The Kansas City Royals’ offseason had become quiet for many weeks following rumors during baseball’s Winter Meetings in December. Since then, there have been a handful of notable minor-league signings. However, two of the team’s stated off-season goals remained unchecked. General Manager J.J. Picollo wanted to add another reliever and a middle-of-the-order bat early on. On Wednesday, news broke that the team had agreed to terms with reliever Carlos Estévez.

Estévez should be a familiar name for fans of the team. Last trade deadline there was news that Kansas City had interest in acquiring the reliever from the Los Angeles Angels. Those trade talks never materialized, but now Estévez lands with the Royals as a free agent. The deal is still pending physical. In 2024, Estévez pitched to a 2.45 ERA across 55.0 innings of work. He struck out 50 batters in that span against just 12 walks. Midseason, Estévez was traded to Philadelphia where his resume of work remained very strong.

Now 32 years old, Estévez has long been an effective big-league reliever. Across eight MLB seasons, he owns a 4.21 ERA. Since the start of 2022, Estévez has never posted an ERA north of 4.00. That amounts to a 3.30 ERA across his last 174.1 IP. That strong showing includes 182 strikeouts and 66 walks. For the Royals, the bullpen grows stronger. Since last year’s trade deadline, the team slowly shaped their struggling bullpen into a strength. That strength showed itself by the playoffs. Heading into 2025, the bullpen had the makings of an above-average group. Now, adding Estévez, it only gets better.

The Royals still have yet to truly add to their corner outfield outside of some mixture of Jonathan India and Joey Wiemer. There’s still time for that to happen, but the remainder of the outfield market isn’t all that impressive. Instead, the Royals have recently turned their focus to further adding to the strengths of the current roster. Michael Lorenzen and Estévez represent strong additions to position groups that already graded out rather nicely, to begin with. That might be the better strategy for Kansas City with hopes to add true outfield help at the 2025 trade deadline if it remains a strong need.