The Royals are casting a wide net in their search for upgrades on the trade market and have shown signs of interest in Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake and Ben Zobrist, reports Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
The Reds have, in fact, received inquiries from multiple clubs on Cueto, Leake and Aroldis Chapman, Morosi continues, but Cincinnati is still reluctant to engage in serious trade discussions despite sitting 12.5 games back in the NL Central. Likewise, Morosi’s colleague, Ken Rosenthal, hears that the A’s are in no rush to move Zobrist, as the team is still trying to get back into the race (Twitter link). Rosenthal adds that it’s not entirely clear if the Royals have inquired on Zobrist specifically, but they’ve discussed upgrading at second base, making Zobrist a logical target.
Many pundits feel that while a sale of veteran pieces is only a matter of time for the Reds, they’ll wait until after hosting next month’s All-Star Game before doing so. It would, after all, be a bitter pill to swallow for Cincinnati natives to watch Cueto and Chapman pitch in the All-Star Game while wearing another club’s jersey.
On last week’s MLBTR Podcast, Jeff Todd and I discussed the Reds’ trade possibilities at length. I posited that given the sheer volume of appealing pieces the team could trade, it’s possible that Cincinnati could enjoy a Braves-esque turnaround by willingly listening to offers on not only Cueto, Chapman and Leake, but also Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier.
As for the Athletics, their reluctance to throw in the towel has been noted before, but the team remains 10 games under .500 and 10 games out of first in the AL West even after going 17-11 over the past month. They’re a slightly more manageable eight games back from a second consecutive Wild Card playoff berth, but there’s a clear uphill battle for the A’s to become serious contenders again.
From the Royals’ standpoint, it’s not hard to see why they’d be interested in an upgrade at second base. Setting aside the avalanche of Omar Infante/All-Star jokes already pouring in on Twitter, Kansas City second basemen have combined to hit a woeful .230/.248/.307 this season. Of course, Infante is owed a significant $22.01MM through the end of the 2017 season. (That number will rise by $500K if he does indeed start the All-Star game.)
A rotation upgrade would seem sensible for Royals GM Dayton Moore as well; the Kansas City rotation has produced just a 4.37 ERA this season (21st in the league), and metrics such as FIP and xFIP feel that’s a pretty fair indicator of what to expect based on the talent the Royals are working with. Just three pitchers have made 10 or more starts for the Royals this year, and two of them are Yordano Ventura and Jeremy Guthrie, who have posted respective ERAs of 4.68 and 5.55. Both Cueto and Leake, then, stand out as logical trade targets for the first-place Royals, while on the Oakland side of the equation, names like Scott Kazmir and Jesse Chavez could come into play. Cueto, Leake and Kazmir are all free agents at season’s end, where the late-blooming and somewhat unheralded Chavez is controllable through the 2016 season.
A’s need lights out bullpen arms, and the Royals are entirely made up of lights out bullpen arms. Beane can still trade-to-contend with sending Zobrist there for one of them. Do the Royals reallllly need Ryan Madson?
Zobrist would require a larger return than Madson, and I don’t think the A’s would trade Zobrist if they were legitimately trying to contend. That is unless they got a young, controllable and less-reliable (inexperienced) player that is ML ready. I can see them trading Kazmir regardless as they have a lot of SP depth.
I would tend to agree, Finnegan is probably who’d they’d ask for, but I really don’t see them matching up in a deal. Zobrist far more likely to go to Cubs, Cards, Dodgers, Yanks or Twins, if at all. I disagree with the authors insinuation that they are out of it too, they have a TON of games against the Astros left, and not many outside of Houston really thinks Houston is for real.
Houston’s real in the sense that they’re probably at least a .500 team the rest of the way if they make a move or two. That puts them right around 86 wins, which is in striking distance of the wild card. FanGraphs gives Houston a 65% chance of making the playoffs. The Athletics have a 7.5% chance, even though they are expected to be a better team than the Astros the rest of the season. If the As go on a run, those numbers could change quick, but they’ve looked really poor out there.
Need a starter before a 2B…..Wait, it’s the Royals so DM will probably go out and get a backup catcher, maybe 1B and then a pitcher….and then sign some nobody 2B to squeeze a month or two out of them lol
The GM that made the moves that led to the team that went to the World Series?
The Royals are trying to trade for any spot that they don’t lead in voting for the ASG.
But seriously, Zobrist would be a huge upgrade at 2nd.
Why consider Zobrist when you already have an “All-Star” in Infante? And they already have a solid rotation that could get them through the playoffs. And they are going to have to pay big money for all the All-Star berths, so why overpay for a rental?
Zobrist could be the difference between them making the playoffs and not. He would be a major upgrade to the biggest weakness on an otherwise playoff caliber team.
Omar is not the biggest weakness……starting pitching is. Taxing the bullpen too much and they can only do so much.
When you’re looking at individual players, Infante’s definitely the pick. Starting pitching needs improvement, too.
“Braves-esque”…nice. John Hart is rewriting the English language.
Little known fact, Jesse Chavez pitched (poorly) for the Royals in ’10 and ’11.
Little known fact because many people didn’t realize KC had a major league franchise until last October.
Chavez pitched an entire season for the Pirates in 2008, and was uniformly awful. At least the Royals were smart enough to send him to the minors from time to time.
What was before his cutter 🙂
How’s about reporting which writers receive pay by number of tweets and post hits they receive. Just an avalanche of non news cluttering the air.
Not sure why the Royals would need Zobrist with all-star Omar Infante manning 2nd base.
Obviously, from the remarks on this article, Kansas City fans don’t visit this site. It will be interesting, after all the years of hoarding prospects and trading veterans, to see how the Royals go about acquiring reinforcements for the stretch. Will they be willing to move their top prospects? Everyone talks about the Tigers window closing. Kansas City has a small window because the ownership has not shown the willingness to expand the payroll to keep its talent. Defections will start this Fall with Alex Gordon. Plus I can see them moving Hollands contract. Small window.
I actually doubt Gordon leaves… He’s a local with a stated desire to be a lifetime Royal. They have cash now. Sure…keeping Hosmer and Moustakas will be more difficult… But they don’t actually have a very long track record. This time last year Moose looked like a AAAA player. They also have some help on the way. I’m not sure Leake costs the farm
I wonder what kind of return Cueto could garner from the Royals. I would ask for Raul Mondesi, Kyle Zimmer or Sean Manaea, and Bubba Starling to start talks. That would be their #1, #2 or #3, and #13 prospects. It might sound like a hefty price, but in a seller’s market, hefty prices are going to be paid by someone.
All that for 2 months of Cueto? Not a chance
Okay so what do you think 3+ months AND the playoffs AND the right of first negotiation of a top 10 pitcher is worth? Matt Garza (a far inferior pitcher) got a bigger package that that two or three years ago.
Really? That’s a pretty good joke there Ray Ray. They would never give all of that away for Cueto unless he came with a couple years guaranteed.
Just a side note on Bubba Starling now that he’s picking it up in AA. Drew Stubbs is probably a good comp for him as a major leaguer.
Wait and see.
Do you think a top 10 pitcher is just going to be given away for nothing? Remember the price the price that was paid for Matt Garza a couple of years ago. He was a rental and far inferior to Cueto. In a seller’s market, prices go up.
Compare my thought to the package that the Angels sent for Zack Greinke in 2013. Segura was a top prospect and Hellweg and Pena were high risk/high upside prospects. Mondesi is a top prospect and Zimmer and Starling are high risk/high upside prospects. I just don’t see why my thought is a “joke.”
What about some kind of Cueto/Phillips or Leake/Phillips package? Something like the Braves did earlier this year to dump Upton…