Why the Royals must not sell at the deadline

Take a page from history, specifically 2015

The Royals must not sell at this trade deadline. Instead, they need to buy.

The Royals currently find themselves in the middle of a competitive window, one of which they took advantage last season by making the playoffs for the first time in nine years, defeating the favored Baltimore Orioles and giving the hated Yankees hell before exiting.

In the broad sense of the franchise, not all that much has changed from last year. As of this writing, the Royals, after an ugly 10-2 loss to the Yankees, are 34-33.

Three things about that record. First, two years ago, being above .500 would’ve been a dream, so a lot has changed in forty-eight months. Two, there are 95 games remaining in the season, just about 30 more than the games actually played so far. Three, despite the record, the Royals are only 1.5 games out of the last Wild Card spot.

In other words: they’re in contention.

They cannot sell.

In Major League Baseball, the only of the four North American sports without a salary cap, small-market teams (such as the Royals) don’t win. They just don’t. Since the Strike of 1994, there’s only been one exception to the rule, only one small-market team that captured the World Series—the 2015 Kansas City Royals.

Another thing about small-market teams in baseball—they don’t often continuously contend. It’s a blip here, a blip there, maybe sneak into the playoffs, fall back the next year, miss the postseason for half of a decade, then repeat. An exception: the 2014 and 2015 Kansas City Royals.

Those Royals teams didn’t sell during its competitive window—the front office went out, traded future assets, and bolstered the current team. That front office, despite all of its misses, knew that such a chance doesn’t come around that often, that a small-market team must boldly act to go down in history or risk being forgotten with the rest of the cowardly lot.

That’s the lesson: don’t sell. Buy.

Salvy’s on his last legs, Lugo has an option, Bubic only has one more year of club control. So what? You can’t deal those guys (not that they’d ever deal Salvy). This team’s not going anywhere without Lugo. Bubic may break the bank if he continues pitching this well, but that’s a problem for the 2026 offseason, not for June of 2025.

Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t work, but teams like this only have a finite time to compete. Why waste it?

This isn’t the NBA, where Sam Presti can build a potential dynasty in the middle of nowhere (sorry, Oklahoma City, but it’s true) by trading future assets for more future assets for more future assets and hitting on only a couple of them. Great idea for the Thunder that other small-market teams in the Association should utilize, but not so much for Major League clubs.

Witt is a star, Vinnie’s bat appears back, Maikel Garcia is breaking out, Isbel is controlling center, Cags has arrived, Noah Cameron has six years of control, Wacha and Ragans have years left on their deals. Those are foundational pieces (granted, some more than others).

Don’t tear it down.

Act boldly.

Don’t sell.

Strike now.