The non-waiver trade deadline is over, with the Royals having moved three short-term pieces in Jon Jay, Kelvin Herrera, and Mike Moustakas for long-term prospects that can hopefully help the Royals enjoy better times than this year. Those prospects, combined with the college-heavy 2018 draft class, and some improvement from lower-level prospects like Seuly Matias and Khalil Lee provide improvement from a lowly-ranked farm system. However the upper ranks of the system are still quite barren, with little talent ready to step in and contribute next year.
The Royals have just under $70 million in contract commitments for 2019, and most of their arbitration cases will either be very cheap (Brian Flynn) or easy non-tender calls (Paulo Orlando, Brandon Maurer).