Rangers Mock Blockbuster Sends Adolis García To Royals In 1-For-1 Swap

The Kansas City Royals need to cast a wide net at the trade deadline to have any hopes of landing the middle-of-the-order slugger they've now been missing for two years.

Though they remain playoff contenders in 2025, the Royals' lack of offense is getting frustrating. Small-market teams typically get shorter title windows, and the Royals might not have any more seasons with their starting pitching core of Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, and Kris Bubic intact.

So while it's pretty firmly established that the Royals will look to buy at the deadline, they'll still need to find an opportunistic seller looking to trade them a big bat, and in most scenarios, that big bat probably can't come with a big contract attached.

Jeremy Greco of Royals Review recently proposed one interesting target with tremendous postseason success to boot: Adolis García of the Texas Rangers.

On Monday, Greco posited that the Royals could trade lefty relief pitcher Daniel Lynch IV in a straight-up swap for García, who is making $10.5 million this season and is arbitration-eligible in 2026 for the final time.

"If the Rangers do sell, they’re going to want someone with some control. (Angel) Zerpa and Lynch both fit that bill, but Zerpa has been better and Lynch still seems like a guy somebody might want to try to turn into a starter," Greco wrote.

"The Rangers gave up the much more valuable Michael Lorenzen last year for Walter Pennington and they didn’t even bother to keep Pennington... Lynch clearly has more value than the left-handed relief darling of last year, should be an easy deal."

García, 32, has a confounding track record. He's a two-time All-Star who was fantastic in the regular season when the Rangers won the World Series in 2023, then was the team's best hitter in the playoffs. But in the two years since, he's got a 97 OPS+ and only 2.2 bWAR.

The Rangers, who the Royals swept last week, probably aren't looking to hold a fire sale. A few bad weeks, though, could tip the scales and convince them that trading García is the best move to free up some playing time for their younger players and flip the calendar toward competing in 2026.

The Royals don't care about next season. Regardless of how long the odds are, it's do or die in 2025 before Lugo likely hits free agency and a whole lot of uncertainty sets in.

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