Triple Play Podcast: Royals Free Agent Deals, Padres Gone Wild

On this week’s episode of the Triple Play Podcast, Matt and I were without Reese, who was traded to the Padres. Just kidding. For now. A.J. Preller made a ton of moves to improve his squad, so we spent some time talking about the trades that sent Wil Myers and Justin Upton to San Diego, as well as the Derek Norris and Will Middlebrooks trades.

The new front office has proven it doesn’t take a ton of years or a ton of money to build a talented roster, as long as the general manager is willing to think outside the box. They traded from their depth of prospect talent, without surrendering any of their top 3 guys, and they now are in a position to compete for a playoff berth. And the best part is, they’re not done! They still have a big hole at shortstop and too many outfielders, so we could still see more moves soon.

More from KC Royals News

• KC Royals Rumors: Is a monster move in the cards?
• KC Royals Free Agent Hunt: 3 Tampa Bay pitchers
• Grading the 2022 KC Royals: The $25 million man
• KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Expectations met
• KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Day 3 update

We also talked a bit about the Marlins, since they’ve made some fairly big moves in the last week, signing Michael Morse and trading for Martin Prado and David Phelps. They should be a factor in the NL East next season.

Not to be outdone, the Royals had a busy week in the free agent market, so we discussed the signings of Alex Rios, Edinson Volquez, and Kris Medlen. The Medlen deal is one of our favorite moves Dayton Moore has ever made, particularly for the potential upside, as well as the depth and flexibility it offers the Royals. It’s fine to quibble with the other deals he’s handed out, but there should be zero complaints about signing Medlen.

Feel free to listen to the podcast with the player above, or at this link. To get in contact with the show, send us an email at KCTriplePlay@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter here:

Aaron Reese
Matt Vernon
Hunter Samuels

Thanks for listening!