Kansas City Royals: Evaluating the Kelvin Herrera trade return

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As we are all aware of by now, the Kansas City Royals traded Kelvin Herrera to the Washington Nationals. But what should we make of the return the Royals received?

Without getting too sentimental, the Kansas City Royals traded one of the few players that fit the mold of “Forever Royal”. Unfortunately, due to the rebuild, the Royals are currently in, anyone who has a high amount of value or one-year left on their contract is on the trading block.

We all knew Kelvin Herrera was going to be traded. It’s just a matter of what type of return the Royals would get in return.

So what kind of return did the Royals get? Did this help accelerate the rebuild? At first, it didn’t look like it but maybe we are seeing a repeat of the past.

The Royals got three players in return for Herrera. They got Kelvin Gutierrez, Blake Perkins, and

KANSAS CITY, MO – JUNE 12: Kelvin Herrera #40 of the Kansas City Royals walks off the field after throwing in the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Kauffman Stadium on June 12, 2018, in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

Yohanse Morel. For obvious reasons, we didn’t know anything about these prospects and had to wait until more information came out.

At first, it wasn’t all a lot of great information. The way many talking-heads reported on the trade, they made it sound like the Royals came in well below expectations.

An #MLB scout on #Royals return for Kelvin Herrera. "Blake Perkins is athletic, but he isn't going to hit enough. Kelvin Gutierrez, while a good defender, won't provide enough offensive impact at 3B.'' Yohanse Morel is 17 and has 3.1 IP as a pro. Decent but not elite prospects.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) June 19, 2018

Which for obvious reason brought a lot of negative vibes about the trades. However, after the dust settled and people started digging deeper into the trade is when the positives started coming out.

“The haul the #Royals got for Herrera is as good, if not better, than what the Tigers got for JD Martinez last season. “ – Baseball America’s JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) on the Herrera trade.

LISTEN here: https://t.co/gI31mzQD0g pic.twitter.com/FTN5POPDUH
— 610SportsKC (@610SportsKC) June 19, 2018

Here's the #Royals take on the deal: Blake Perkins is a 70 runner and 70 defender who's learning to switch-hit in high A at 21. Gutierrez is an above average defender who can move all over the field -- not just play 3B. And Morel is a 17-year-old power arm. They like the return. https://t.co/lxX7I3isqq
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) June 19, 2018

So the question comes up again. Did the Royals get a good return for trading arguably the best trading chip in baseball this year?

In short. Maybe? And that is 100% acceptable. As of right now, the idea that they have two players who are above-average defensively, someone they can work on offensively and is known to be a very strong athlete, should bring a lot of optimism.

The main thing that fans need to understand is that the market for rent-a-players in 2018 is completely different than it was in 2016. When the Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman in 2016, they got the 17th best prospect in baseball (Gleyber Torres) along with three other prospects. But the market is different now. What the Royals got, it looks pretty decent for the era of baseball we are now in.

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