Kansas City Royals: 2019-2020 offseason schedule
By Cody Rickman
November 14 – Deadline for qualifying offer recipients to accept or reject
The Royals currently don’t have any players eligible for a qualifying offer. This offseason the Royals would be wise not to engage with any players who have received a qualifying offer in free agency. This policy will remove the Royals from the free agency considerations of some of the top players available this offseason such as Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Zach Wheeler, Yasmani Grandal, and Josh Donaldson.
This deadline also signifies the opening of the free agency period on November 15th. The Royals should be in play for several cheap free agent options. If reliever Blake Treinen is released by the Oakland Athletics the Royals should be players in his market.
The Royals should also be players in the free agency markets for starting pitcher Brett Anderson, reliever Arodys Vizcaino, reliever Daniel Hudson, and outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall.
November 20 – Deadline for adding Rule 5-draft eligible players to 40-man roster
The Royals will make several other roster decisions between October 31st and November 20th by releasing and adding players from/to their 40-man roster. Max Rieper at royalsreview.com addressed the upcoming possible 40-man roster moves stating,
"“The Royals currently have a full 40-man roster and will need to activate Salvador Perez and Kelvin Gutierrez from the 60-day injured list this week. They may also want to add some prospects to protect them from the Rule 5 draft such as outfielders Blake Perkins, Nick Heath and Seuly Matias, and pitchers Foster Griffin, Grant Gavin, Carlos Hernandez, Gerson Garabito, and Yunior Marte. Players that could potentially be taken off the 40-man roster include catcher Nick Dini, infielder Cheslor Cuthbert, outfielder Jorge Bonifacio, and pitchers Jacob Barnes, Scott Blewett, Conner Greene, Randy Rosario, and Jesse Hahn.”"
The Royals will remove nine pitchers Jacob Barnes, Scott Blewett, Heath Fillmyer, Connor Greene, Jesse Hahn, Jake Newberry, Randy Rosario, Eric Skoglund, and Kyle Zimmer from the roster. The Royals will add four pitchers Foster Griffin, Grant Gavin, Carlos Hernandez, and Yunior Marte to the 40-man roster.
Catcher Nick Dini, infielders Humberto Arteaga and Cheslor Cuthbert will also be removed roster. Nick Heath and Seuly Matias will be added to the 40-man roster.
The Royals will have six open roster spots remaining on the 40-man roster heading into free-agency and the baseball Winter Meetings.