Royals Preparing to Move Assets

[Dadbauer]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2777732-mlb-trade-rumors-royals-quietly-informing-teams-theyre-open-to-deal

 

Could the Royals being open for business signal a possible blockbuster deal with the Brewers? We all remember the slow winter meetings, and although nothing major happened, Stearns did say he laid a lot of foundation on potential moves. Trades don't start from scratch midseason, teams talk all the time and maybe the groundwork laid here could lead to a huge move for the Brewers.

 

Knowing full well it would be expensive, how insane would it be if we were able to get Merrifield and Perez? Whit reminds me of a guy like Travis Shaw - never really a hyped prospect but in the major leagues, he just hits. Perez is a great "veteran" leader, best friends with Cain, and a 5 time all-star catcher. I like Manny Pina and think he adds a lot to the team chemistry, but how good does he look as a backup to Salvy? It would be very pricey, but these are not rentals - Salvy isn't a free agent until 2021 and Merrifield is still arbitration eligible. I would do a haul like: Santana, Burnes, Hiura, Nottingham, and some lower pitching. We have the pitching depth to lose Burnes, Huira would be blocked by Whit, Nottingham blocked by Perez and Arcia, Santana hurts, but we have OF depth.

[superfly]

I don't think Perez is enough of an upgrade personally....rather just sit and wait for Pina to revert back to his career norms than take on an expensive 31 (end of contract) year old catcher with heavy useage. It'll be Lucroy all over again.

[JohnBriggs12]

I don't see them dealing Perez. He's the face of their franchise and signed through 2021. They have a number of guys in final years of contracts but none are all that attractive or a match with Brewers. Herrera and Moustakas are their two most viable rentals who'll be available but neither fits a Brewer need.

 

Merrifield is the most logical target for the Brewers. He's especially attractive because of his ability to hit LHP (.923 career OPS vs. LHP) and his ability to play OF as well as 2B.

[JosephC]

I agree with JohnBriggs, it makes all the sense in the world for them to trade Perez but he's the one guy they probably would prefer not to trade. He just brings too much in the "intangibles" category, and it makes sense that he would be the one guy they would hold onto through a rebuild process. If they deal him, they would probably demand the other team to overpay for him. Perez really shouldn't carry a Realmuto type price-tag, but that's likely what they would ask for.

[3and2Fastball]

Perez is better than Realmuto.

[pacopete4]

I would love to stabilize our lineup and defense by adding Perez and Merrifield. Our lineup and depth would be insane.

[JosephC]

The Brewers also might be in a position where they cannot deal Santana. He sure looked like an extra piece a couple months ago but now looks pretty essential. Braun sitting at a miserable .223/.268/.408/.675 and it's almost a guarantee he'll miss a chunk of games later in the year. Wouldn't exactly be looking forward to seeing Hernan Perez getting 20 starts in the outfield during September.

[YelichPosse]

Salvador Perez would be a massive upgrade to Pina, and is a fantastic weapon offensive and defensively.

 

That being said, he is the face of KC now..... and likely would take a Yelich+ Type Package ...

 

But the though of him batting behind Shaw or Santana... ohhhhh thats gets you salivating.

[MrTPlush]

The Brewers really have the problem of not having any black holes on the team. We aren’t trotting out a Yuniesky Betancourt that seems obvious and easy to upgrade. If we want to upgrade a starting positional player it’s going to be expensive because we will have to acquire a really good player.

 

2B seems like the most likely place to replace someone, but that is assuming Villar craters before the deadline. If not we would have to acquire someone like Merrifield to get an upgrade. That is really expensive.

 

C also could be a possibility to get a good upgrade, but Pina has rebounded recently and can easily put up similar value compared to Perez. Perez is surely a safer bet to be valuable, but once again that is a pricey guy to acquire.

 

I wish Merrifield could play SS. Then he could replace Perez on the team being the super utility player. That would likely give us the biggest jolt offensively. He would essentially get starter playing time and keep guys fresh.

[Dadbauer]

The Brewers also might be in a position where they cannot deal Santana. He sure looked like an extra piece a couple months ago but now looks pretty essential. Braun sitting at a miserable .223/.268/.408/.675 and it's almost a guarantee he'll miss a chunk of games later in the year. Wouldn't exactly be looking forward to seeing Hernan Perez getting 20 starts in the outfield during September.

But we DO have depth there. In left field, we could play Thames, Phillips, Broxton, or Choi. I'm not saying the defense of Thames or Choi is ideal, but it's not like Braun is the only other guy who can play there if Mingo is gone.

[Warning Track Power]

I know he has been awful this season but I would love to acquire Danny Duffy (at a discount). Give Derek Johnson some time with him and perhaps the Brewers can turn him around. Given the contract, maybe a Trent Grisham and Troy Stokes package.

[MrTPlush]

I know he has been awful this season but I would love to acquire Danny Duffy (at a discount). Give Derek Johnson some time with him and perhaps the Brewers can turn him around. Given the contract, maybe a Trent Grisham and Troy Stokes package.

 

We aren’t in the position to acquire terrible players and trying to fix them mid season. Not to mention he is expensive too.

[SRB]

Whit Merrifield would be a big upgrade because you can slot him in as the everyday 2B, and then move Villar into a super utility role so we no longer need one or both of Sogard and Perez

[BrewCrewBlueDevil]

Salvador Perez is the only Royal Milwaukee should be interested in. Huira, Woodruff and Williams would be a start. KC would need immediate MLB contributors because Perez is a beast and is the face of their franchise. It's not happening.

[tmwiese55]

With them looking to trade Domingo in the offseason that means they were comfortable with Phillips getting a lot of PT this year as I'm sure they knew Braun would miss a lot of game. Last I remember Phillips wasn't hitting the greatest in AAA but that defensive OF would be tremendous when he's in there for Braun. At some point if you're a good prospect you're gonna have to play in the bigs and show it, that would be Phillips time.

[MrTPlush]

Brett Phillips is hitting just fine in AAA.

[tmwiese55]

OK good, yea it's been a while since i looked or saw it mentioned. Either way, I wasn't too concerned about a 20-30 game sample as I'm sure you could tell. With his D all you need is to be ok at offense and you're coming out ahead

[SRB]

Salvador Perez is the only Royal Milwaukee should be interested in. Huira, Woodruff and Williams would be a start. KC would need immediate MLB contributors because Perez is a beast and is the face of their franchise. It's not happening.

 

Why in the world would we trade Hiura for Perez? He may be popular in Kansas City but in terms of talent Salvador Perez is an average player, nothing more nothing less. A good defensive catcher who shouldn't be counted on to hit much better than, say, a healthy Stephen Vogt.

[Dadbauer]

Because we have a legitimate chance to win a division and we could upgrade one of our weakest positions with a very solid player.

[tmwiese55]

In that scenario you're also getting a starting 2B for the next several years.

[adambr2]

Any deal sending Hiura to KC definitely needs to include Merrifield too. I would probably do Perez+Merrifield for Hiura, but I doubt that's enough and I wouldn't go crazy giving much more.

[Eye Black]

For me trading Keston Hiura right now would be a blunder unless the Brewers were certain the arm was going to significantly limit him defensively. IMO, if Hiura were to get traded it would need to be as part of a package for a nearly elite MLB player with multiple years of control, and I don’t think other teams currently place the high valuation on him that would be necessary in my mind.

 

Despite the defensive deficiencies, Hiura is the one prospect currently in the Brewers system that has the potential to rise into consideration as a top-15 prospect in baseball in the near future. His bat gives him a realistic chance to develop into the most consistent hitter in a good major league lineup. Giving that away for anything the Royals currently have to offer has a chance to be disastrous. I would rather bet on Hiura’s value to continue to rise at this point.

[SRB]

Because we have a legitimate chance to win a division and we could upgrade one of our weakest positions with a very solid player.

 

Yes, but he's a marginal upgrade. Perez has a career .270/.301/.444 batting line, that's good not great even considering his plus defense.

 

I think this is one of those scenarios where a player is being massively overrated because (1) he is popular with fans in KC, and (2) he is a very good fantasy catcher because of his HR/AVG

 

Realmuto is a significantly better real world catcher, and even then I'm not giving up Hiura.

[Dave_Not_Here]

While Kansas City has some decent players who have value and could help us now and/or in the future, I just don't see where what the acquisition costs would make sense for us right now.

 

It doesn't hurt to keep an eye on those players, or even have preliminary discussions though. If certain players on our roster were to fall apart or suffer injuries resulting in significant lost playing time, then I think the Royals would make more sense as a trade partner.

[coolhandluke121]

IMO, if Hiura were to get traded it would need to be as part of a package for a nearly elite MLB player with multiple years of control

 

We're all excited about Keston, but that seems pretty generous. He's still a prospect with injury problems. Furthermore, I think superstar-chasing is overrated in baseball, and Keston's prospect value is as a potential superstar at the plate. Depth and balance are more important.* Balance means not only decent offense, defense, pitching, and bullpen, but also balanced offense and versatility throughout the lineup. If you have that, you can win without any MVP candidates. Heck, you hardly even need more than 1 or 2 all-stars. I think you still want aces for the playoffs, but even that seems to be changing with the times.

 

I think Perez/Merrifield for Keston (and others of much less consequence) would be a good move for both teams. Perez and Merrifield are under control for 3 more years at a combined ~$50m, depending on Merrifield's arbitration. And Merrifield has another year of arbitration after that. Pina is a week from turning 31, a dangerous age for catchers, and is a major regression risk regardless of age.

 

*Of course you'd like to have both depth and stars, but that's hard for a small market team and the Brewers should choose depth. That means trying to upgrade at catcher and 2b if possible. They have the NL's best record and a move like this would be justifiable because they should be contenders for a few more years, too.