The Royals wide-ranging search for rotation help has led to discu sions with free agents and , Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Kansas City has also been linked to free agents , and within the past week. Royals general manager J.J. Picollo has said on multiple occasions this winter that hes hoping to bolster his starting rotation, and he recently acknowledged that his club this offseason. The Royals arent likely to be serious players for top-of-the-market arms like and , but the list of names to which theyve already been tied suggests theyre quite active in the second and third tiers of the market for starting pitching help. Both Wacha and Flaherty figure to be in the Royals price range, landing annual values that fall well shy of that rough $30MM annual rate. Wachas two-year, $32MM club option was bought out by the Padres at seasons end, but after posting consecutive seasons with 125-plus innings and ERAs of 3.32 and 3.22, he has a case for a three-year pact albeit perhaps at a le ser rate than the $16MM which San Diego declined to pay (or pick up and attempt to trade him at). Over the past two seasons, between the Red Sox and Padres, Wacha has posted a combined 3.27 ERA with a 21.3% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 37.7% ground-ball rate. Despite being more of a fly-ball pitcher, hes allowed a manageable 1.14 homers per nine frames. His 88.1 mph average exit velocity and 35.4% hard-hit rate are both a bit lower than this past seasons leaguewide averages (89 mph, 39.2%), which helps to mitigate the impact of a below-average strikeout rate. Wacha has dramatically reduced his reliance on a four-seam fastball over the past two seasons. Hes steadily increased his usage of a sinker and changeup in that time, posting new career-high usage rates for each Jonathan Pimentel Jersey pitch in both 2022 and 2023. The broader question with Wacha is one of durability. Hes been placed on the injured list nine times in his MLB career five of them due to right shoulder i sues. Wacha landed on the IL with a stre s reaction in his shoulder back in 2014, and hes since had shoulder-related IL trips in 2016, 2020, 2022 and 2023. Hes also mi sed time with one-off oblique, hamstring, knee and intercostal injuries. Most recently, he mi sed six weeks of the 2023 summer with shoulder inflammation. However, he also posted a 3.88 ERA in 48 2/3 innings after returning and closed out the year with consecutive seven-inning gems (two total runs allowed on nine hits and two walks with 13 strikeouts). Turning to Wachas former Cardinals teammate, Flaherty isnt that far removed from looking the part of a blo soming ace. A first-round pick and top prospect before his big league debut, the right-hander logged a 3.34 ERA through 151 innings during his first full MLB campaign back in 2018. He was even better in 2019, to sing a career-best 196 1/3 innings with a brilliant 2.75 earned run average, excellent 29.9% strikeout rate and lower-than-average 7.1% walk rate. Unfortunately, he battled shoulder troubles of his own while pitching just 154 1/3 innings combined from 2020-2022. This past season, Flaherty split the year between the Cardinals and Orioles, enjoying his healthiest year since 2019 but also displaying rather pedestrian results. Flahertys 4.99 ERA stands as an obvious eyesore, and his 22.8% strikeout rate was more or le s in line with the league average. His 10.6% walk rate was a good bit worse than average. His fastball, which averaged 94.5 mph in that brilliant 2019 season, sat at 93.2 mph in 2023. It obviously wasnt Flahertys best work, but even with the downturn in results and durability concerns, theres reason to believe he could yet command a multi-year deal. Flaherty only turned 28 in October, and a team might view him as a prime-aged rebound candidate who could pitch near the top of a rotation in a best-case scenario. Hed be an upside play based more on his prior heights than his 2023 output, but even if things dont pan out, a two- or three-year deal likely wouldnt break the bank. Recent three-year deals for pitchers in this tier have generally landed around $12-13MM per season (e.g. , , ). Its similarly feasible that Flaherty might just prefer a one-year deal thatd allow him to return to market next winter although he could also get there via an opt-out. There are various contractual forms he can and likely is considering, but hes unlikely to be prohibitively expensive in any of those scenarios, given Picollos prior comments regarding the teams payroll flexibility. Kansas Citys rotation currently projects to include , and veteran innings eater . Candidates for the final two spots include , , , and , among others, but the Royals are hoping to add at least one, if not two veteran arms to supplement the bunch. Lamont Jersey