KANSAS CITY -- With the World Series over, a critical offseason now begins for the Royals as they ponder a slight rebuild, a medium-sized rebuild or a major makeover.
Kansas City has nine free agents, as general manager Dayton Moore begins to plot a course for the future of a team that made back-to-back World Series appearances in 2014-15 and won it all in '15.
Free agents: 1B Eric Hosmer, SS Alcides Escobar, 3B Mike Moustakas, CF Lorenzo Cain, LHP Jason Vargas, OF Melky Cabrera, RHP Peter Moylan, RHP Trevor Cahill, LHP Mike Minor.
Note: Minor has a mutual option for 2018 that will be declined, and right-hander Ian Kennedy will not opt out of the remaining three years on his deal.
Arbitration-eligible players: RHP Kelvin Herrera, RHP Nate Karns, RHP Brandon Maurer, RHP Mike Morin.
Hosmer, Moustakas, Escobar and Cain represent the core of a group that went to consecutive World Series. The dropoff in terms of replacing Hosmer, Moustakas or Cain will be significant.
Which players will the Royals target?
The focus will likely be on Hosmer for several reasons. First, he's their best position player, offensively and defensively. Second, we still don't know what his ceiling is (the belief here is he is still an ascending player, even after a .318 season with 25 homers and 94 RBIs). Third, even if the Royals decide to rebuild, Hosmer is the perfect veteran to shepherd a young group through the next era. He is the most competitive player on the team, is a great clubhouse leader, and cares about the community.
Given the Royals' financial limitations, the other player they really need to re-sign is Minor, who completely stabilized the bullpen when he took over the closer's role in September (and we know how Moore values a shut-down bullpen). The Royals will also try to get Vargas and Moylan back on club-friendly terms.

Will the payroll allow any other free-agent signings?
Not likely. The Royals banked on making the playoffs the past two seasons, which is why they had franchise-record-setting payrolls each year. The playoff revenue didn't come in, which meant owner David Glass once again had to subsidize the losses. As even Moore admitted recently, that's just bad business.
"Eventually, the bill comes due," Moore said.
The Royals have about $110-115 million committed to payroll for 2018, and that might leave them about $20-30 million to play with to go after Hosmer and Minor. That's a tight fit.