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Report: Royals will rebuild, won't pursue marquee free agents

Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images Sport / Getty

With the reported news that Eric Hosmer will be joining the San Diego Padres for the foreseeable future, the Kansas City Royals now have an idea of how they plan to move forward.

The Royals will stay pat, go into a rebuild, and will not pursue any marquee free agents with Hosmer departing, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Kansas City was linked to Hosmer for much of the offseason and even had some reported interest in a reunion with third baseman Mike Moustakas, but things now appear to be going in a different direction.

"I've been very clear we have two objectives this offseason," Royals GM Dayton Moore said at a news conference on Sunday, according to MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan. "We have to build our farm system back to what it was in 2010-2011, and we have to get payroll at a level to get us more flexible for the future.

"That period of time (of high payrolls), that phase of who we are, is over. We need to move on."

Since the end of the 2017 campaign, when the Royals finished 80-82, they've made some small additions such as adding pitcher Wily Peralta, infielder Ryan Goins, and re-signing shortstop Alcides Escobar. They also traded Joakim Soria, Scott Alexander, Ryan Buchter, and Brandon Moss.

Along with Hosmer, the 2015 World Series champions lost outfielder Lorenzo Cain to the Milwaukee Brewers in free agency.

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