Kansas City Royals Potential Trade Targets on Offense

Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Carlos Gonzalez

In theory, if a player who had 26 home runs and 21 stolen bases as recently as two years ago, and is still only 29 years old, was to come available, teams would be lining up to bring that player in. However, that does not seem to be the case for Carlos Gonzalez.

When he was healthy, Gonzalez had been one of the better hitters in the game. While he can still provide a power boost, having hit ten home runs thus far in 2015, his .245/.308/.418 batting line is a far cry from what he had been two years ago. Even though his home and road splits are fairly even, Gonzalez is still not the player he had been.

The other stumbling block when it comes to Gonzalez is his salary. He is owed $37 Million over the next two seasons, an amount that would likely cost the Kansas City Royals to lose Alex Gordon via free agency and necessitate several moves in the bullpen. Of course, if the Royals were to try to get the Rockies to pay the majority of his contract, the prospect cost may well be prohibitive.

Two years ago, the idea of Carlos Gonzalez being on the trade block would have been enough to make fans salivate over the possibility of having his bat in the middle of the lineup. Now, even though he would be an upgrade and the Rockies may well want to shed his contract, he just would not be worth the expenditure for the Kansas City Royals.

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