KC Royals: The 2021 trade deadline, 2 weeks later

Third move: The KC Royals find a trade partner for slugger Jorge Soler.

Managing to trade a player on the Injured List was a bit of an accomplishment for Dayton Moore. Finding a club committed to acquiring Jorge Soler in the midst of a miserable season at the plate almost equaled the feat.

But Moore got in under the wire by completing a trade of Soler to Atlanta. That Soler began to heat up in the 10 games before the deadline probably helped—he hit six homers and raised his average from .183 to .192 in that span.

And Soler has been just fine for the Braves since the deal. He went 3-for-4 with an RBI in his Atlanta debut. Two games later, his first-inning, two-run homer gave his new club all it needed in a 6-1 win over St. Louis. He’s slashing .286/.412/.524 with three homers and six RBIs in 12 games.

And what of Kasey Kalich, the righthanded Braves’ relief prospect they sent to the Royals? Kalich was 0-2 with five saves and a 3.26 ERA in 20 games with High-A Rome (Georgia) at the time of the trade, and is 1-0, 5.40 in four games with Kansas City’s Quad Cities High-A affiliate. He last pitched Friday night against Beloit and surrendered two runs in 1.2 innings, but also struck out three.

The KC Royals made three deals in the days leading up to this season’s trade deadline. Time will tell how they’ll end up for the teams involved.