Royals Rumors: KC Flooded With Trade Inquiries At Winter Meetings

The Royals front office has been inundated with trade inquiries at baseball’s Winter Meetings in Washington D.C. The Cubs, Cardinals, and Dodgers are interested in dealing for Kansas City stars on short-term contracts.

Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore must feel like the prettiest girl in the room with all the attention he’s getting at baseball’s Winter Meetings. The Dodgers want Lorenzo Cain and Wade Davis. The Cubs are kicking the tires on Danny Duffy and Wade Davis. Meanwhile, the Cardinals like Jarrod Dyson.

Don’t Expect The Royals To Hold A Fire Sale

However, KC Royals manager Ned Yost insisted to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan that Dayton Moore isn’t looking for a fire sale:

"“I think there’s just a lot of rumors out there,” Yost said on Day 1 of the Winter Meetings. “Dayton would never trade anybody just to save money. He’s not going to do that. If he’s going to trade somebody, it’s going to make our club better.“Again … the majority of our core after 2017, you know, are all going to be free agents. Dayton is a great guy that can look into the future and figure out how we make our club better now and for the future. I think he’s very open-minded, and I think he’s been looking at everything, you know, that could accomplish both of those goals — to make us better now and for the future. The GM job is hard, man, it’s hard to piece all that together. But he does a great job of it.”"

KC Expects To Compete In 2017

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The Kansas City Royals aren’t just going to pack it in on 2017. Any trade they make has to at least leave the team competitive next season. However, that requirement doesn’t preclude a deal. The KC Royals still face a massive exodus of talent after the 2017 season that includes stars like Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Danny Duffy, Jarrod Dyson, and Wade Davis. Tagging all of these players with qualifying offers and collecting draft picks will create a long gap before Kansas City could expect to contend once again.

Dayton Moore’s Strategy

I just don’t see Dayton Moore accepting such a future. He cut his baseball teeth with the Atlanta Braves while they were in the middle of winning the N.L. West in 13 of 14 years. I think Moore wants his Kansas City team to come as close as they can to replicating such a run.

Pretty much the only way Moore can accomplish such a feat is to cash in his short-timers for major-league ready young talent.

In fact, Ned Yost indicated as much to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan:

Moore also hasn’t just limited his options to trading guys in the final years of their contract. According to MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, he’s also listening on offers for pitchers Ian Kennedy and Yordano Ventura:

Next: KC Royals: Five Questions Heading Into The Winter Meetings

Keep your ears open, KC Royals fans. There’s a whole lot of smoke around Kansas City players at the Winter Meetings and a deal makes sense.