The Royals are seemingly stacked with young pitching for next year, but they quickly found out last year that there is no such thing as too much pitching depth. With pitchers still recovering from the shortened 2020 season, the Royals may want as many arms as they can to protect their young pitchers from having to work too many innings.
That may lead them to acquire another veteran starter. Dayton Moore recently said that the free agent market will be difficult for them to sign a starting pitcher. But Moore could be simply posturing to let the market know he is not willing to overpay, and the Royals could swoop in with an offer if he can find a pitcher willing to take the right offer.