When we think spring is here, we get rough weather on Wednesday, thus extending this brutal winter in Kansas City for one more day. Thankfully, baseball is coming to Kansas City soon, with Opening Day on March 27th at Kauffman Stadium. On this cold weather day, the Royals announced that their Fountain Pass is available again for $49.99 per month.
Even though the Royals are still in the early stages of Spring Training, the roster is getting clearer. On Monday, Kansas City announced its first wave of roster moves,, with the following players assigned to Minor League camp.
None of those moves are a surprise, as they were expected to begin the year in the Minor Leagues, and none were on the 40-man roster. That said, this wave of moves shows that we’re getting closer to Opening Day and that the Royals’ Cactus League lineups will now be more important to pay attention to, especially for those on the bubble when making the Opening Day roster.
I will have more Spring Training posts in the coming days, especially after the Royals pick up play tonight against the Seattle Mariners after an off day on Tuesday. However, in this post, I will look at news about a Royals fan favorite, a free agent who spurned coming to Kansas City, and my two most recent posts on Pitcher List, where I broke down hitters and pitchers with solid PLV marks for fantasy baseball purposes.
Moustakas Retires; Ceremony Scheduled on May 31st at the K
On Monday, the Royals announced via social media that Mike Moustakas officially retired from professional baseball. He will sign a one-day contract on May 31st against the Detroit Tigers to formally retire as a Kansas City Royal.
The Royals did this two seasons ago with Lorenzo Cain, who signed a one-day contract to retire with Kansas City. I was lucky to be at the game on May 6th, 2023, against the Oakland Athletics, and it was a grand ceremony and opportunity for Royals fans to recognize a player who was so key to those playoff runs in 2014 and 2015. I imagine the Royals will do something similar with Moustakas and his one last day on May 31st.
Much like Cain, Moustakas found success after he left Kansas City in 2018 near the Trade Deadline. He helped the Brewers have some postseason success and posted a solid 2019 campaign in Milwaukee, as evidenced by his 2.7 fWAR. Moustakas signed with the Reds in free agency in 2020, and after a decent season during the 60-game COVID season (0.5 fWAR), he regressed in 2021 and 2022. He accumulated a -0.9 fWAR in 140 games with the Reds over those two seasons.
Moustakas played 112 games with the Rockies and Angels in 2023, but the struggles remained as he posted a 78 wRC+ and a -0.4 fWAR in 386 plate appearances. He did not play for a Major or Minor League squad in 2024 (he was with the White Sox in Spring Training last year but did not make the team) and ended his career with a 15.1 fWAR over 1,427 career games.
The 2007 second-overall pick has long been one of my favorite Royals players and was arguably my favorite Royal during those 2013-2017 seasons. He didn’t quite have the big personality of Eric Hosmer, Cain’s toolset, the hometown charm of Alex Gordon, or Yordano Ventura‘s swagger. That said, Moustakas’s game had an intensity that made him a great player and leader in the clubhouse.
It’s hard to forget Moustakas’ dive into the fan dugout in the 2014 postseason against the Orioles in the ALCS, which is burned in the psyche of every Royals fan.
Moustakas’ retirement ceremony at Kauffman Stadium is well-deserved, and I cannot wait to attend in person, much like I did for Cain’s.
Duvall Turns Down Royals’ Free-Agent Offer
The Royals have aggressively tried to improve their outfield this offseason. Unfortunately, it takes “two to tango” in free agency. GM JJ Picollo hasn’t found the proper suitors or players to help solve the Royals’ “middle of the order” problem this offseason.
Kansas City offered free-agent deals to Anthony Santander and Jurickson Profar, but they opted for deals with the Blue Jays and Braves, respectively. Picollo was also in talks with the Mets to acquire Starling Marte, but it sounds like they decided to keep Marte in Queens for at least one more season (though it sounds like the interest is still there from the Royals).
Even though it appears that the Royals will start the season with the players on their current 40-man or Spring Training roster (non-roster invitees Cavan Biggio and Harold Castro could be added with solid springs), news broke this week that the Royals offered former Braves outfielder Adam Duvall a one-year deal worth about $1 million with another million in incentives. However, Duvall turned the deal down, as he seems intent on making at least $3 million this season.
As shown in the Bluesky post from Royals Review, Duvall plans to retire if he doesn’t get the offer he wants from the Royals or anyone else. That said, the outfielder is 36 and coming off a season in which he posted a -1.0 fWAR.
While Duvall would’ve provided a nice platoon option with MJ Melendez, I am not sure the Royals should pay $3 million for a guy who doesn’t play every day and wasn’t as good as Garrett Hampson or Adam Frazier last season.
Thus, I credit Picollo and the Royals’ front office for holding firm on not overpaying veterans past their prime. The Royals had to do that last season to attract veterans to Kansas City and help change the culture after a 106-loss season. This year, however, they are more selective in their transactional process, which is good, as the Royals won 86 games last year and aren’t adding bad deals to their books in 2025 either (which opens up more options for in-season trades).
PLV and Fantasy Baseball
In addition to Royals baseball, I have a passion for fantasy baseball.
I have played the game regularly since 2008, when I was a junior in college. To me, fantasy baseball is the best fantasy sport, followed by fantasy hockey and then fantasy basketball. I also play fantasy football, but I am not as passionate about that fantasy sport, even if it’s a much more popular one (this is primarily due to my overall disdain for NFL football in general).
While I primarily write here at this site, I also contribute regularly to Pitcher List during the season, writing for their fantasy baseball section (I have been writing there since 2020, which is crazy to think about now). I typically contribute to a weekly column called “The Batter’s Box” (I write the Sunday piece). However, I also will write various fantasy baseball pieces during the off-season and in-season.
In my first two posts of 2025, I used PLV as a measuring stick when finding hitters and pitchers to target in fantasy baseball this year.
Here’s my piece on five pitchers that PLV loves this year.
And here’s the offensive companion piece that looks at five hitters that PLV loves for the upcoming season.
If you play or love fantasy baseball, check out my work on Pitcher List from now until the conclusion of the 2025 MLB season.
Photo Credit: Duane Burleson/AP
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