Kansas City Royals: 3 underrated trades to improve rotation

The Kansas City Royals will need to make improvements to their rotation this offseason and here are three players the team should consider trading for.

The Kansas City Royals’ rotation is a disaster. There’s really no way to sugar coat that fact. Guys like Glenn Sparkman, Jorge Lopez, and Eric Skoglund (to some extent) were given a long look to know that they will not be part of the future rotation. A rotation that will one day likely include names like Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Kris Bubic, and potentially others.

The team has something in Brad Keller who showed flashes of being brilliant this season. In his first full season as a starter, Keller displayed a vanishing slider that produced a 30 percent whiff rate and 0.194 opponents’ batting average. After only throwing 38 changeups this year, Keller will need to develop this pitch in the offseason and into Spring Training to become a complete pitcher.

Danny Duffy put together a fantastic month of September after being inconsistent and landing on the injured list prior to that. His 2.73 ERA was the best final month of the regular season in Duffy’s career but he could potentially find himself in the bullpen next year. Ian Kennedy currently serves as the team’s closer but his contract is off the books after 2020.

The Royals will need someone on the current roster, in the farm system or outside the organization to fill the spot. Right now, it would appear to make the most sense to slide Duffy into that role with him serving as a potential setup man in 2020. Again, this is all assuming he’s removed from the rotation next year.

Understandably so, the team would have to make a reactionary move in the event that Duffy gets moved and let’s be honest with ourselves, they need to make a move this offseason regardless of Duffy’s status to vastly improve the rotation. Let’s take a look at three underrated trades that the Royals should look into this offseason.