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NPB free agent signing patterns in 2026 could be a good sign for Royals in future

As productive as the Royals have been this winter, addressing numerous areas of need already by the early stages of January, there's one area where they not only missed out on, but didn't seem to even be in the running to be a part of.

There were three major NPB free agents posted this winter and unsurprisingly the Royals didn't seem to be in on any of them.

Again, given their a smaller market Midwest organization, they traditionally haven't been a prime landing spot for top Asian talent in the past, so missing out on Tatsuya Imai, Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto was not a shock.