The biggest takeaway from the Royals’ trade deadline was the move they almost made

Royals general manager J.J. Picollo walked into the media room Tuesday evening with a collection of new players to talk about, on the heels of informing a few others they had played their last game in a Kansas City uniform.

So goes it during trade deadline week, which the Royals concluded with a total haul of eight players and five departures.

But this column won’t lead with any of them.

Because over the ensuing 20-minute news conference, it was another anecdote — about a deal that didn’t happen — that could be the most revealing of this franchise’s future.

Well, you can only hope.

“You go into the last 10 days, and you’re sort of dreaming and creating, ‘How can we really make an impactful trade that may change the organization?’” Picollo said. “I think in our situation, it was a little lofty to be thinking that way, but we were open-minded to some names that would hurt to trade. We let teams know that’s something we would do.”

Consider this the Royals dipping their toes into water they’ve too long considered too cold — and a potential sign that they might soon sink in both feet.

Again, you can only hope.

The Royals explored two separate moves Tuesday that would have included trading players still under multiple years of control— and Picollo said enough for us to connect the dots and figure those players include, at least, Carlos Hernandez and Salvador Perez.

That’s one player whom the Royals consider to be a key part of their future — the closer now, in fact, after the trade of Scott Barlow — and another who fits that bill but also has been such a large part of their past that his number will one day be plastered on the wall beyond left field.

To be clear, Picollo referenced the explorations only as “bigger deals,” mentioning Perez and Hernandez in separate answers as players who drew interest. The dot connection is my own, but it isn’t much of a stretch. Heck, the Royals were communicating with Perez throughout the day, knowing he’d have to waive a no-trade to facilitate any such deal.

Anyway, of the potential for the larger deals, blown up by a disagreement over asking price rather than the involvement of a specific player, Picollo said, “You get excited about it, and you want to push forward.”

And then, later, this: “It was very comfortable, even though it was going to hurt to make a trade like that. We were comfortable with that.”

Excited.

Comfortable.

Even if it meant parting with key players.

That is not an attachment to people, a staple of the Royals’ past, but trumped by an attachment to improvement, which needs to be part of the Royals’ future. It’s the head space in which small-market teams like the Royals should operate. Scratch that: must operate.

You bet there is a see-it-when-I-believe-it aspect to this — because, well, we’ve not seen it. We did not actually see it Tuesday. I’m writing because we finally heard about its mere possibility, and that ought to only be the start.

In a process-over-results world, embracing the process is the first step — and I’m not sure when we’ve seen the Royals, post-World Series, embrace this process.

What the Royals actually achieved at the trade deadline is pretty meh, and I don’t mean that as a synonym for disappointing. It just doesn’t move the needle much.

Sure, it’s probably noteworthy that the best talent the Royals acquired will be in the lower levels of the minor leagues; the emphasis was not on acquiring major-league talent, after all. And, sure, it’s probably also noteworthy that four of the five guys they traded this month had more than one year of control remaining (Scott Barlow, Jose Cuas, Ryan Yarbrough and Nicky Lopez).

But those trades will be closer to tweaking the franchise than significantly altering it. To achieve the latter — something that could more drastically change 33-75 — the Royals will have to first be willing to make more drastic changes. To lose players who might hurt.

We use the Tampa Bay Rays as a comparison a lot in Kansas City, because they operate under similar payroll constraints but with dissimilar results. While the Rays have developed their own talent better, they’ve also built their team on trades. On trades involving core players. On trades that might have hurt in the moment.

In 2018, they traded starting pitcher Chris Archer (who had more than a year of control remaining) for Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows. Glasnow has a 3.07 earned-run average across 62 starts since moving to Tampa. Meadows hit 33 homers in first full season, then, after a slump in his second year, rebounded for 27 homers the next, getting MVP votes in two seasons.

And what did the Rays do? In 2022, they traded Meadows to the Tigers for Isaac Paredes, who has a 3.2 WAR this season.

One of the Rays’ best hitters, outfielder Randy Arozarena, was acquired by parting with Matthew Liberatore, then the 42nd-ranked prospect in baseball.

They traded players they coveted.

That is what the Royals considered doing Tuesday, and it’s still important to note even if it didn’t materialize, because oh so many opportunities just like it will arise. Like this winter. The Royals have logjams at certain positions and vast openings at others.

At some point, fair or not, they will have to pull this trigger — to turn an initial step into the final step — even if big-market teams get to skate on by. The Mets are in town days after trading ace Max Scherzer, who thought it was a big deal that their front office plans to wait two years before throwing dollars at their roster problems.

Can you imagine complaining that the Royals would only be major players in free agency every other year? They would be so lucky.

Conversely, their shot of imported value must come from a willingness to export it.

They’re close.

It appears as though they embraced the process.

But we still await the results.