ESPN insider joins the chorus of those suggesting KC Royals trade away this star arm

The Kansas City Royals seem to fall further and further down the rankings in the AL postseason picture each passing day. Entering Sunday's rubber match with the Arizona Diamondbacks, they sit 5.5 game back of the final AL Wild Cars spot.

While they still have yet to fully determine whether they will buyers or sellers at the deadline, there have been increasing calls for the Royals to consider trading from their starting pitching strength and deal away their star Seth Lugo.

And earlier this week, ESPN's David Schoenfield was the latest insider to suggest that the Royals take advantage to try and re-coup some assets in a trade involving the 2024 AL Cy Young runner-up this month.

ESPN insider joins the chorus of those suggesting KC Royals trade away this star arm

Their place in the standings and the fact Lugo is not only living up the immense standards he set for himself after his career year last season, but exceeding them, makes this move seem increaslingly likely as the season wears on.

After another masterclass on Thursday in Kansas City's thrilling 3-2 victory over Seattle on Thursday night, Lugo brought his ERA down to 2.65 to pair with a 1.09 WHIP and .214 BAA.

Schoenfield states that the Royals depth of impressive emerging talents in the rotation could entice the J.J. Picollo and Co. to feel more comfortable their high-flying veteran.

"The emergence of Kris Bubic as a likely All-Star pitcher plus rookie Noah Cameron give the Royals some rotation depth to deal from," Scheonfield wrote.

Then there's the fact that Lugo is also not guaranteed to be under contract next season, which is also a factor that could make him an enticing piece for both the Royals to deal and for teams to be interested in dealing for him.

"Lugo remains an extremely attractive trade option, as he's signed through at least next year (he owns a player option for 2027)," Schoenfield added.

On top of suggesting the Royals trade him, Schoenfield also gave two suggestions of teams that could deal for him, in the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.

The reasoning behind the Blue Jays is the fact they hold a wild card spot given the spotty state of their rotation.

"The Blue Jays are currently in the second wild-card spot, despite a scuffling rotation that ranks 26th in ERA," he worte. "They did just get Max Scherzer back, but there's no way of knowing what he'll bring, plus Chris Bassitt and Scherzer will be free agents -- so they'll be looking for pitching help in the offseason anyway."

For the Dodgers, Schoenfield referenced their deep injury concerns surrounding three of their top starting options in Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki. And with a strong surplus of hitting depth, he claims the Dodgers might be the best team to make such a deal for Lugo.

"The one thing we do know is the Dodgers have a system loaded with hitting prospects that might make them the team most capable of making this trade -- if they want to do it," he wrote.

The next few weeks will be key on determining if the Royals have the fight in them to climb the standings and be the contender they were expected to be entering the season. However, the uncertain future of Lugo with the Royals beyond 2025 could make this deal too enticing to pass up, regardless of their trade deadline strategy.