Kansas City Royals conclude Winter Meetings in Nashville. Here are Day 3 observations

Major League Baseball put a bow on the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee. The three-day event was filled with rumors and speculation as all 30 teams searched for offseason upgrades.

Where will Shohei Othani land? What about Blake Snell or Cody Bellinger?

MLB teams are still awaiting those answers. For the Kansas City Royals, the Winter Meetings provided a chance to evaluate the free-agent market.

The Royals didn’t sign a free agent. However, they did trade reliever Dylan Coleman to the Houston Astros and selected four players in the Rule 5 Draft.

“I think we’ve seen some markers in the starting pitching, but then there’s a big gap between what potentially could happen at the top in the market and what’s happened so far,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said. “A lot of the players we have interest in (are in) that gap. So that’s what we’re still trying to establish.”

The Royals will continue to look for starting pitching this offseason. They did get some relief help by adding pitcher Matt Sauer in the Rule 5 Draft. He will likely begin his Royals tenure as a multi-inning reliever.

KC also acquired Nick Anderson from the Atlanta Braves in an offseason trade. Picollo said he has a few more roster spots to fill. As a result, there is still more work to be done over the next several weeks.

Here are some observations from Day 3 at the Winter Meetings.

Royals active in Rule 5 Draft

The Royals will keep Sauer on the active 26-man roster. To acquire him from the New York Yankees, KC had to send $100,000 out to NY. Sauer must stay on the roster for the entire season or risk being placed on outright waivers and being offered back to New York.

Additionally, the Royals were able to get a trio of prospects in Joseph Gray, Keylan Killgore and Ryan Fitzgerald. Each player was selected in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft.

KC did lose out on three prospects including T.J. Sikkema, who was acquired in the Andrew Benintendi trade. However, they retained former first-round pick Asa Lacy and infielder Devin Mann.

Set your DVRs

Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer George Brett will be featured in an MLB Network documentary on Thursday night. The network special — titled “Brett” — will chronicle his career and community efforts in Kansas City.

The documentary was produced by James Potocki and will feature multiple interviews from some of his contemporaries.

Fans can catch the special film at 7 p.m. CT on the MLB Network.