The Kansas City Royals are slightly above .500 as the 2024 MLB trade deadline approaches. The team still has plenty of holes and they aren’t quite ready to make a World Series run yet, but they’re getting close.
While the Royals are often sellers at the deadline, this year will be different. The team should be looking to add impact players to their roster as they gear up for a championship run in the next three to five years. Let’s take a look at some players the Royals should be targeting and what a perfect trade deadline might look like.
Team needs
The Royals are a team on the rise, and their actions at this year’s deadline will go a long way toward determining the team's fortunes in the coming years. By making strategic decisions at the deadline to lengthen their lineup while shoring up the rotation, the Royals can position themselves nicely to compete for championships in the years ahead.
Let’s take a look at how the team’s roster is currently constructed, and what they might need to take the next steps towards contention.
Starting with their batting order, the Royals have one superstar in Bobby Witt, Jr., the third-year shortstop who ascended to superstardom last season and is looking to build on that success this year and in the coming years.
The problem for Kansas City is that Witt Jr. cannot hit in every spot of their lineup.
Luis Arraez would be a picture-perfect leadoff hitter
Arraez is exactly what this team is hitting ahead of Witt Jr.: a reliable slap hitter who will consistently string together multi-hit games and spray the ball around to all parts of the field.
Arraez has already flirted with a .400 batting average. He is flat-out elite at getting on base. The former National League batting champion won’t hit for a ton of power but that shouldn’t be a problem for any team that acquires his services. Arraez doesn’t need to hit for power because his team is much better off when he sticks to what he does best: putting the ball in play and getting on base for the big guns behind him to drive him in.
Arraez isn’t as active on the base paths as you would like for your leadoff hitter to be, but he makes up for that by being so good at getting on base. You don’t really want to run too much in front of a hitter like Bobby Witt Jr. anyway, because it isn’t worth the risk of getting caught and taking the bat out of your best hitter's hands.
While the Padres recently acquired Arraez, they likely won't be winning the World Series this year. It would require a slight overpay, but San Diego's front office could likely be convinced to move Arraez for the right package.
A young hitter with upside
The Royals should also be looking to add another young hitter. Ideally, this will be more of a boom-or-bust prospect as Kansas City has the flexibility to take a chance and not completely mortgage their future if the gamble comes up short. The ideal player would be somebody young enough to have upside while also having the potential to hit for power as well as average.
Jo Adell would be a perfect fit. He has struggled to live up to the hype but has seemingly figured out the power side of things this year. Adell still needs to work on improving his batting average and getting on base more, but his ability to hit home runs could make him a viable candidate for the middle of the Royals order in the next couple of years if a new environment helps him to improve his on-base skills.
Taylor Ward could also be an option, but he would be slightly more expensive than Adell. However, Ward has flashed similar power and is close to a league-average hitter in terms of getting on base. Depending on the price, the Royals could even consider going for both of these players. However, if they choose to prioritize going after one to conserve some assets, Ward would be the better player to target because he profiles as a middle-of-the-lineup batter and potentially a clean-up hitter without as much future growth required.
Jack Flaherty and Garrett Crochet
The last thing that the Royals need to do to set themselves up for contention moving forward is to address their starting rotation and add one or multiple players with upside.
Jack Flaherty has been up and down throughout his career, but he seems to have put it together this season. Whether that’s just a flash in the pan, or if his new performance is for real, we don’t quite know yet. While the jury is still out on that, it seems to be somewhat sustainable. Even if he regresses to the mean, it’s likely that Flaherty’s recent performance is closer to what he really is than his past performance.
Because he doesn’t have a particularly strong track record, Flaherty will likely be available on the trade market for a reasonable price. This could be a great opportunity to invest resources in the future of the rotation without breaking the bank. Flaherty’s upcoming free agency could also drive down the price that it will take to acquire his services.
Garrett Crochet is also expected to be available on the trade market, but he will likely be more expensive to acquire. Crochet has excelled right from the start of his career and he’s younger than Flaherty, and he also has several more seasons of team control.
What the perfect trade deadline looks like
With this approach, the Royals would acquire a prototypical leadoff hitter to get on base in front of Bobby Witt Jr., one or possibly two future middle-of-the-order hitters, one potential future ace and another above-average starting pitcher. That would be the perfect deadline for Kansas City, as it would allow the young team to continue growing and get several pieces in place now that the team will need in the next couple of years as they approach World Series contention.
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