Kansas City Royals: Second Base Trade Market

Sep 17, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals mascot Sluggerrr entertains the crowd before

the game

against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 6-2. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The fact is, the second base market is pretty darn thin.

There are other options that I won’t even consider here since they’re available because they aren’t hitting. That doesn’t help a team trying to win a championship in the next three months very much.

For example Chase Utley is certainly available, but he’s hitting an appalling .179/.257/.279 and has $45 million remaining on his contract through 2018. Even if the Phillies were willing to eat ALL of that remaining money, how does getting a .536 OPS bat help Dayton Moore? 

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The Padres are actively shopping Jedd Gyorko, but he’s—again—available because he’s not hitting (.215/.278/.335). Chris Owings was thought to have staring potential, but he’s only slashing .230/.260/.331 in the thin air of Arizona for the Diamondbacks, so I don’t see how he’d fit Kansas City’s present need.

I’m not all that hot on the idea of Martin Prado, especially since the Marlins reportedly want something “big” for him (however, the Prado to Kansas City rumors could be Dayton Moore’s attempt to knock down the A’s asking price for Zobrist). At this point, it seems that the options are either: 1) bite the bullet and pay the A’s for Ben Zobrist, or 2) pull a rabbit out of the hat and land DJ LeMahieu.

I’m not holding my breath waiting for either deal to happen.

Next: Trade will Benefit Johnny Cueto