Kansas City Royals: Evaluating the Deadline Trades

It has been a week since the trade deadline and the Kansas City Royals made some moves. These trades were to help bolster their pitching staff and help improve their offense by not giving up much. Lets take a look at how well those trades have worked out so far.

To quickly recap the Kansas City Royals first traded LHP Travis Wood, LHP Matt Strahm, and Minor League second baseman Esteury Ruiz to the Padres. In return they received RHP Trevor Cahill, RHP Brandon Maurer, and LHP Ryan Buchter.

They hoped Cahill would be able to replace Nathan Karns in the rotation. They have hope Maurer and Buchter would be able help out in the bullpen.

In the second trade they gave up Minor League RHP A.J. Pucket and LHP Andre Davis to the Chicago White Sox. They got back outfielder Melky Cabrera. This move the Kansas City Royals hoped would help them offensively.

Since July 25th the Royals have gone 6-6 in their push for the playoffs. They still hold the second spot in the Wild Card race.

This is not where we hoped the Kansas City Royals would be after making these trades.

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Trevor Cahill, prior to coming to Kansas City, was 4-3 with a 3.69 ERA and a 10.9 K/9 ratio. Since coming to Kansas City he has started twice. He has pitched 8.1 innings and has a 7.27 ERA. Giving up 14 Hits and four walks while recording five strikeouts. In comparison to our other fifth starters, aside from Karns, only Jake Junis has looked better in his seven starts.

Ryan Buchter has made five appearances out of the pen and pitched 3.1 innings, including a one pitch win on August 3rd. He has been effective out of the pen only giving up one earned run and one unearned. He also has only given up two hits and two walks in separate games. He has also recorded three strikeouts.

Brandon Maurer has not been as effective for the Kansas City Royals. He has also made five appearances since traded. He pitched 5.2 innings and given up eight runs, four hits, and two runs.

Melky Cabrera prior to the trade was hitting .295/.336/.436 for the White Sox. He is hitting better with the Kansas City Royals hitting .320/.379/.520. However, Melky has replaced Jorge Bonifacio who has had a good season so far. If the Royals truly want to help the offense, Bonifacio needs to play more. Whether that is in the DH role, or in Right Field with Melky in Left.

So far I think these trades have helped the Kansas City Royals more than they have hurt them. Melky Cabrera has hit well for the Royals. I believe that Trevor Cahill will improve as he gets more comfortable in Kansas City. I’m not sure what to think of Brandon Maurer. He is pitching slightly worse than he did in San Diego, which was not what we had in mind.

The San Diego trade has helped fill the void of losing Nathan Karns for the season. It also allowed us to offload the struggling Travis Wood.

Next: Taking a Look at the Playoff Picture

Overall the trades have improved the team. The pitching staff has the ability to be better. The offense can be better than it has been sense these trades. They need to figure out the lineup and how they want the bullpen to work.

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