The Royals are advancing toward a potential trade of outfielder Jarrod Dyson, with the Athletics as a potential suitor, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes (all Twitter links). (Jon Heyman of FanRag adds the Rangers and Orioles to the list of interested teams.) The idea, Sherman reports, is that with a number of key players set to become eligible for free agency following the 2017 season (including Dyson, Wade Davis, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar), the Royals need to think about how the team will look in the future. Meanwhile, they can capitalize on the market’s current demand for center field help by trading Dyson, while also dealing Davis and moving Kelvin Herrera to the closer’s role.
The 32-year-old Dyson batted a relatively modest .278/.340/.388 in 2016 and only collected 337 plate appearances, but still contributed 3.1 fWAR thanks to his excellent defense. The Athletics need outfield help and have, in recent years, acquired outfielders like Coco Crisp, Sam Fuld and Craig Gentry whose profiles when acquired were heavily oriented around defense. Dyson is also relatively cheap, at a projected $2.5MM for 2017. It makes a degree of sense, then, that the A’s would want to add him.
yankees500
What would a jarrod dyson package look like?
patborders92
A fringe reliever, that guy that jumps between the majors and AAA
Cam
Dyson is no superstar, but how is he only worth a fringe reliever? They are a dime a dozen.
julyn82001
Agreed. Royals are dumpling salary here – and this is just another 6 months rental. No reason to “labor” a trade…
Joseph Anderson
@julyn – Dyson isn’t making that much money really. We have a cheaper option in Gore and Dyson just sits around for the most part. I’m happy to get rid of him as I’ve never been thrilled with his defense. Watching him in AAA made me cringe anytime a ball was hit to him. Cain has those moments too.
Matt Galvin
Sogard?
TheChanceyColborn
Dan Coulombe immediately comes to mind.
phillies012tg
mengden or maybe even hendricks also
rycm131
It’s the A’s! Are we forgetting what they give up for players like this? Expect a minimum of at least one top 10 prospect from their org
arc89
Dyson is no Ben Zorbist where a team gets a Manaea. in a deal.
hammertime510
Right, I can’t see Manaea traded. It’s probably Jesse Hahn.
RedFeather
Born to be an A. I think everyone called this one.
Travis’ Wood
This would be such a classic A’s move. Pick up a guy with one year of control hoping to catch lighting in a bottle. If not you can deal him at the deadline. Reminds me of the 2014 season when they trade Daniel Robertson for Ben zobrist and flipped zobrist for Sean manaea
Perksy
Well if you don’t spend money this is what you have to do.
monk
Would not be a bad move for the bluejays
cardinalsfan97
what would the cardinals have to give up to get him
link2217
I would guess one of the guys they just got for Garcia. Like Gant or Dykstra and a ptbnl.
NineChampionsips
Yuck.., this deal only makes sense if 1) We give up someone low-level like Covey and 2) The idea is to give him starter AB’s to increase his value before flipping him in July.
pd14athletics
What is super frustrating is we wouldn’t be in this position if we hadn’t dealt Burns to KC for Eibner… aren’t Burns and Dyson a very similar player except Burns would be entering arbitration when Dyson hits free agency? If things go well for Dyson to start the year I can’t imagine him drawing much more in return than it would take for a team to acquire him now- a lot of teams are after a CF right now.
Asfan27
I agree why did they give up on Burns so fast? He doesn’t have a great arm but he has great range and got on base
TJECK109
If the Pirates are intent on moving Cutch I could see them kicking the tires on Dyson
dwilson10
The O’s would be smart to go after him. Good RFer that would slot into the leadoff hitter slot and he’s a lefty with speed. Exactly what they need.
1738hotlinebling
This doesn’t make sense. not to be bias but what is so enticing about a dyson trade, he wont bring back much and hes a durable 4th outfielder, just keep him and let him walk next year
jqks
If Soler does come to the Royals for Wade Davis then Dyson’s situation changes to a degree. I love Dyson and don’t want the Royals to ship him off without a nice return, but if they add Soler they need to subtract in the OF as well, either Billy Burns or Dyson. Burns is cheaper.
All that said, if Dyson is traded basically as a salary dump I will be “Royally” pissed off. There is not a roster in the MLB that he would not improve in 2017.
Joseph Anderson
Dyson has speed going for him “that’s what speed do”…. Getting more AB’s might help his average out. Defense I always thought he was pretty shaky (Cain can be too at times). I’ve watched both of them in AAA Omaha and remember seeing both of them have their moments. Burns or Gore can fill in as #4 if the R’s acquire Soler. I don’t see the R’s trading much away this winter unless a good offer is made to one of the “star” players. I wouldn’t mind getting rid of Moose and Esky and finding replacements for them (likely farm guys which a couple names come to mind for that).
stryk3istrukuout
Lot of sneaky value here with Dyson. Elite speed, excellent fielder. He would be a great spark to the Cardinals, a team that typically doesn’t have much speed.
wildwolfdog
Based on my fantasy baseball experience, Dyson is not a great asset, lol. I’d still like him on the Jays though as a 4th OF.
stryk3istrukuout
There is a difference between fantasy baseball and in-life baseball.