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

2) THE KC ROYALS HAVE THE TRADE PIECES

One of the more encouraging developments of the 2016 season has been the resurgence of some formerly stalled prospects in the Kansas City Royals system.

Outfielder Jorge Bonifacio, third baseman Hunter Dozier, and third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert all are having breakthrough seasons at the plate in the high minors after two seasons of mostly running in place. At this point, the KC Royals organization has more depth than it appeared a few short months ago when Baseball America ranked them the 21st best minor-league system in baseball.

Right now, the KC Royals appear to have a number of near major-league ready players that can play right field and third base. Yesterday, I suggested that Dayton Moore try some of the internal options  to boost right field production. My co-editor here at Kings of Kauffman, Ryan Heffernon, wants the team to call up Brett Eibner.

While I still agree with this idea, the argument against it is that the Kansas City Royals are a team with championship aspirations and can’t afford to put up with rookie growing pains when they need to make up 6.5 games on the Chicago White Sox and are scoring 3.62 runs per game. Markakis represents veteran production that should help the team the moment he arrives.

Plug and Play rather than hope is what the KC Royals need right now.

I’m thinking that the Kansas City Royals could deal someone like 24-year-old Hunter Dozier to the Braves plus an arm that the Braves like from the lower minors in return for Markakis. In an ideal world, Dayton Moore would be able to persuade the Braves front office to take back Omar Infante’s contract as a salary dump, but such a deal might require a better headline prospect than Dozier.

Bonifacio plus a good lower-minors arm might get such a deal done, but the KC Royals could need a pair of outfielders in the near future with right field in need of a long-term solution and Lorenzo Cain poised to hit free-agency after 2017. I’d rather deal a third baseman like Dozier, who had Cheslor Cuthbert and Mike Moustakas ahead of him.

Next: Nick Markakis Has A Reasonable Contract

3) NICK MARKAKIS IS A ROYALS KIND OF PLAYER

Right now, Nick Markakis’ batting line isn’t that impressive. He’s slashing .266/.363/.355 which gives him an adjusted on base plus slugging of 97 (3% below league average).

However, last season he hit .296/.370/.376 (OPS+ 110). To be honest, he pretty much looks like the same player in 2016, except he’s had a little less luck with batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Even as he is, Markakis does one thing that Kansas City Royals really need: he gets on base.

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Add in that he’s a left-handed hitter, has won a pair of right field Gold Gloves (his last one as recently as 2014), and that he’s more of a guy with gap power than a home run guy, and he’s a perfect fit for KC Royals baseball.

Markakis had teens home run power until 2015, when he hit three dingers with 38 doubles. In 2016, Markakis has 11 doubles without a home run. He’s a lefty bat that would help the Kansas City Royals at the top of the lineup (say the no. 2 hitter), which would allow Mike Moustakas to hit in an RBI position when he returns from his thumb injury.

Who knows, maybe the KC Royals could get lucky and Markakis might turn it on after they acquire him. Playing for a contender might give him a little extra juice that might help him focus through the daily grind instead playing for a no-hope team like Atlanta.

Next: Markakis' Contract Is Reasonable

4) NICK MARKAKIS HAS A REASONABLE CONTRACT

Markakis is signed through 2018 (his age 34 season) at $11 million per year. Though that sounds like a lot of money to us common folk, it’s pretty reasonable in today’s major-league baseball. With open-market prices running around $8 million per WAR, Markakis only has to produce about 1.3 WAR per season  to provide value.

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Though owner David Glass might not want to eat another $9.5 million or so in pro-rated salary when the team payroll is a record $132 million, the KC Royals might persuade the Braves to take back a contract like Omar Infante as a salary dump. Since Infante is signed through 2017 at $8 million per season, the Royals would be on the hook for another $3 million or so, while the Braves would gain around $17 million in future salary relief.

That would clear up second base for Christian Colon, who appear more productive than Omar Infante right now. I doubt he’d be any worse.

While the KC Royals might not want to be on the hook for the $22 million remaining on Markakis contract after the 2016 season, at $11 million he should be easy to deal presuming his production doesn’t crash at the end of this season.

That way, the Kansas City Royals would have their right field stop-gap until players like Jorge Bonifacio and Bubba Starling prove they are ready for major league jobs.

Of course the counter-argument is that Bonifacio and Brett Eibner are ready for major-league jobs right now, and that a Nick Markakis trade would just be wasting resources. However, Markakis should come relatively cheap and gives the team known production.

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In the end, the KC Royals scouts will have to make the call. They have better data on Bonifacio, Eibner, and Markakis than any outside analyst.