KC Royals: 3 potential trades involving Maikel Franco

It is apparent that the KC Royals signed the former Philadelphia Phillies third baseman to use as trade bait before the deadline.

If the KC Royals viewed Maikel Franco as a long-term option at the hot corner they would have negotiated a contract with at least two to three years of team control.  Since he was signed for a budget-friendly $2.95 million with options that could push it to $4 million, they could have secured his services for more seasons and still not spent much more than that per year.

This deal has all the makings of a Dayton Moore special.  Take a player who struggled the last season or two for a one year deal and hope he regains enough production that a playoff contender will ship you a prospect or two for his services the last two months of the season.

Injuries play a large part in a team having an immediate for help in a playoff hunt, but other teams may have questionable players to begin with.  If Franco can hit .250-.260 and put 12-15 balls out of the park by mid-July, he will be a marketable asset.  He will also only be 28 years old at the end of August which is more attractive than a player at the twilight of his career.

These factors should allow the Royals to expect a greater return than a trade involving an older player like Ian Kennedy.  Of course, Franco will need a return to his 2018 form when he slashed .270/.314/.467 in Philly and not the player whose OPS was 75 points less than that in 2019.

The potential is there for Franco, he was the NL Rookie of the Month in June of 2015 when he put together his best Sabermetric numbers in 80 games that season.  He takes heat on his fielding but it should be pointed out that he finished fourth last year in fielding percentage for third basemen in the senior circuit.

We will take a look at three possible landing spots for him as the KC Royals hope Franco can bring value in a deadline deal.

A prospect out of Curacao already has four minor league seasons under his belt and is only about to turn 21 years old.

Sherten Apostel may not be ready for big-league action for another two or three seasons but he could become a staple at first or third for the KC Royals.  At six-foot, four inches tall he is a big frame that is still growing into his body.

There are holes in his game to improve on, but since he just becoming of age to buy alcoholic beverages there is plenty of time for that to develop.  He held his own with the Hickory Crawdads in the South Atlantic League in 2019 swatting 15 home runs and producing a .802 OPS.

Why would the Texas Rangers need Franco for this upcoming season?  Currently, they are relying on Todd Frazier to man the hot corner.  He was decent for the New York Mets in 2019 but struggled mightily the previous four seasons.  The last time he played American League ball he did crank out 27 dingers but only hit for a .213 average.

Fraizer also just turned 34 and committed 24 errors at third last season.  There is the matter of Texas staying in the race with the Los Angeles Angels adding firepower to their lineup but the Rangers improved their pitching from a 78-84 team in 2019. They will want to put together a solid team to go with their new stadium.

The KC Royals and Milwaukee Brewers seem to have a pipeline to each other that happens every few years.  

Most recently KC sent Mike Moustakas to the Brew Crew for Brett Phillips and Jorge Lopez.  Another deal that helped with the success in the mid-2010s was Kansas City acquiring Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar and Jake Odorizzi for Zack Greinke.  Cain also went back to Milwaukee when he left the Royals as a free agent in 2018.

The Brewers were in the thick of National League Central race only missing out to the St. Louis Cardinals by two games.  At the hot corner, Milwaukee is beginning the season with a platoon of Jedd Gyorko and Eric Sogard.  Gyorko had a horrible 2019 campaign and while Sogard had his best year ever, he will turn 34 years old and it is difficult to see him duplicating last season’s performance.

It is not a stretch to think the Brewers will be looking to upgrade their offense at third if they are in a place to take the division again.  What they could offer the Royals is a potential catcher to fill in the hole that will be created as KC looks to limit Salvador Perez behind the plate and potentially move him to at 1B or DH role full time.

Payton Henry was drafted out of high school in 2016 in the sixth round and has improved his power numbers each season.  Defensively he throws out nearly 40 percent of the potential base stealers and is highly skilled behind the plate.  He needs to work on cutting down on strikeouts and drawing more walks but a couple more years of minor league seasoning should help with that.

Henry has been a Mid-Season All-Star the last two years and took home a MiLB Gold Glove award in 2018 while with Wisconsin in the Mid-Atlantic League.  While the Royals look to see if their current crop of catchers can spell Perez, this prospect would be worth taking a chance on.

These are just three possibilities that could improve the future of the Royals.  One thing we are fairly certain of is that Franco will not be on the Kansas City roster once the calendar hits August.