KC Royals: 3 potential trades involving Maikel Franco

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.