KC Royals: Why Trading For Nick Markakis Makes Sense

The KC Royals need an offensive boost. Trading for Atlanta Braves right fielder Nick Markakis makes the the most sense.

The Kansas City Royals won the 2015 World Series title sporting an offense that didn’t have a hole. Adding second baseman Ben Zobrist at the deadline, and right fielder Alex Rios‘ second-half improvement gave the KC Royals a lineup that could hurt opponents no. 1 through no. 9.

Coming into the 2016 season, Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore hoped that second baseman Omar Infante‘s production would rebound after off-season elbow surgery and that fourth outfielder Jarrod Dyson could hold down a full-time job.

About midway through May, and those two hopeful projections seem overly optimistic. Infante has a OPS of .578 and the speedy Dyson simply isn’t getting on base (On Base Percentage of .262). Overall, the KC Royals have scored 3.62 runs per game. That’s just not going to cut it. The 2015 championship squad scored 4.46 runs per game.

The quickest way to improve the offense is to fill in the lineup black holes (Infante and Dyson) and hope that players like Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon get it going. The Kansas City Royals also need more baserunners to put help put pressure on defenses. In short, their keep-the-line-moving philosophy isn’t working because too many hitters aren’t doing their part.

After looking through right field and second base candidates across baseball, I think right fielder Nick Markakis is the best trade target for the following reasons:

Next: Markakis Should Be Available