KC Royals GM weighs in on trade deadline direction as postseason race stays crowded

As the KC Royals continue to have a rollercoaster of a season, it's hard to know whether or not J.J. Picollo plans on being a buyer or a seller. As it turns out, the Kansas City general manager hasn't quite decided himself. The expanded playoffs and the presence of numerous teams as contenders are only making things more difficult.

Even if the Royals seem to be trending towards dropping out of the playoff race, there's still a large pack of teams in the race that Picollo can't say for sure is done. For his part, he recently talked to Anne Rogers of MLB.com and made it clear that for now, he's keeping a very open mind.

J.J. Picollo: Royals keeping options open as trade deadline and playoff race converge

"If we’re within striking distance – and I don’t know what that record would be because .500 seems to be a playoff record right now – I don’t think we should panic and say the season is over,” the KC Royals GM said. “Because there are just too many games left in the season. We’re trying to build off of something that was really positive last year. Making the playoffs again this year would be really important to this organization and really important to the city.”

That second part might be the real reason Picollo is staying open-minded more than anything else. As of Thursday morning, the Royals were close to a season-low chance of making the playoffs, according to Fangraphs.

Kansas City is trailing the Detroit Tigers by double digits. They're struggling at home, especially on offense. But they're still in the hunt for a playoff position, sitting just 3.5 games out of the final AL Wild Card spot.

They're in the hunt so much that a recent article pinpointed exactly who the KC Royals might end up acquiring should they decide to be buyers. J.J. Picollo knows that if his team turns into sellers too soon, they're going to start hearing the usual talk about how the front office is more interested in saving money than competing. Of course, if the team continues playing the way it currently is into July, he may not have to straddle the fence anymore.