The Royals made these trade deadline deals. Why one signals a new era
Royals general manager J.J. Picollo spoke for more than 20 minutes Thursday, but this column is going to focus initially and primarily on just three words. Or maybe just two, if you want to be technical about it.
There arrived a decision earlier Thursday, hours before the Major League Baseball trade deadline, that required Picollo to place an emotional phone call to a departing player and then another emotional call to a player who will be sticking around.
Those calls were difficult, each of them, but Picollo came to a conclusion:
“Business is business,” he said.
Well, then.
It wasn’t as cold as it probably comes across in printed form, so consider that for the fuller context. But it was every bit as calculated.
Freddy Fermin, a backup catcher to Salvador Perez, has been part of the Kansas City Royals organization for a decade — almost to the day. He was never a prospect who drew much attention, but he did draw adoration. He’s loved inside the clubhouse. A tough and resilient player. A quiet but infectious personality. He’s particularly close to Perez, the team’s captain.
But the Royals just traded him to San Diego ahead of the deadline Thursday, acquiring right-handed pitchers Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek in return.
You know, business is business.
It’s a new era in Kansas City, and at some point, we’ll stop considering that notable. That they dealt Brady Singer in the offseason already subtracts some of the pizazz from anything we saw this month.
But the Royals haven’t been lodged on this buyers-or-sellers tightrope since a regime change three years ago — they were barreling toward 106 losses in 2023 and sat in the Wild Card lead a year ago, making those two positions obvious. Which allows us to gather some new intel now. The emphasis should stay there: new.
An organization long, long persuaded by its fondness for players and people — and by its fans’ fondness for those players and those people — just threw that out the window.
In favor of good business.
Sitting three games out of the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League, they clearly opted against selling, though classifying them as buyers has an element of illusion.
Sure, they added four players in three separate trades in the final hours. (They also traded for left-hander Bailey Falter and sent minor-leaguers Evan Sisk and Callan Moss back to Pittsburgh; and they acquired outfielder Mike Yastrzemski from the Giants for minor-league arm Yunior Marte.)
But they added something more than a quick-fix. They acquired controllable years. Bergert is in his rookie season, and Kolek won’t hit free agency until 2030. Falter, the lefty acquired in a trade with the Pirates, still has three years of control remaining.
It’s been a priority over these last two trade deadlines to shy away from rentals unless the cost is particularly cheap — like parting with a 28-year-old journeyman minor leaguer for Adam Frazier or a 4.54 career minor league earned run average for outfielder Randal Grichuk.
There’s a lot to like about the full package of what the Royals compiled, but top of the list is a less flashy item, or at least a less immediately item:
A head start.
The Royals are doing their winter work in the summer months. Their bullpen is significantly better this season because of the trades they made last July. And now, as the majority of the league will scour free agency this offseason in search of starting pitching help or starting pitching depth, the Royals just grabbed it.
The success of these trades, therefore, isn’t tied solely to the success of this season. If the Royals fail to make the playoffs — and the Fangraphs model gives them somewhere in the neighborhood of a 13% chance to make it — they aren’t likely to be sitting in their offseason meeting rooms regretting what they did in the middle of the season.
It seems like we’ve transitioned to a separate point than the original three words — “business is business” — but they’re apples from the same tree. They equally represent new guideposts.
Picollo went to bed late Wednesday assuming the Royals would pull the trigger on trading Fermin.
“That’s an emotional thing,” he said, “because you’ve had Freddy since he was 20 years old.”
And every day since. It would take seven years before Fermin would debut with the Royals, and even then, he earned all of seven plate appearances. He was 28 before he could permanently call himself a major leaguer, but he never lost the edge as though he was fighting for his spot every day.
His last game in Kansas City will be catching nine pitchers — nine! — who combined for a shutout. He’s part of an MLB record.
And a day later, Picollo was calling him on the phone, telling him to pack a bag for San Diego. Then he called Perez, giving him a private heads-up on the deal before it became public.
“If you just took the emotions out of it — the passion, the excitement you have for the players — and just say can you get two starting pitchers for a catcher who right now isn’t our No. 1 catcher, you would do that trade over and over again,” Picollo said. “Just take the personal ties out of it. You would do it over and over again.”
Over and over again.
It might feel new.
It won’t after a while.
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "The Royals made these trade deadline deals. Why one signals a new era."