MLB insider makes shocking claim that KC Royals All-Star could be on the trade block

The 2025 MLB Trade Deadline is inching closer and closer, as Thursday will mark one week until the July 31 cut-off date.

And the rumor mill is hot right now, with mock trades, reported rumblings and speculation and opinions of which names could be heading to which contenders.

This week former MLB executive and current baseball insider for The Athletic, Jim Bowden wrote an article about some "MLB trade deadline intel", where the main focus was to determine who's best suited to buy, sell or sit on the fence and do both in the coming days.

In doing so, he made the claim that All-Star Maikel Garcia could be a name the Kansas City Royals "dangle" at the deadline, which quite frankly seems a very unrealistic.

MLB insider Jim Bowden makes shocking claim that KC Royals could "dangle" Maikel Garcia in trade talks

According to Bowden, there's been some buzz around the industry that supports the claim the Royals might be shopping infielders like Garcia - he also references Jonathan India as being in the same conversation.

"The Royals have been looking to improve their outfield offense for a while and they hoped to be buyers at the deadline," Bowden said. "However, if they fall further out of the wild-card race, they could pivot to try to take advantage of the seller’s market."

"There has been some buzz in the industry that they would dangle either infielder Maikel Garcia or second baseman Jonathan India if they could land a power-hitting outfielder of equal value in a contender-to-contender type of swap," he said.

Before referencing Garcia or India as trade assets, he discusses pitchers Seth Lugo and Carlos Estévez as options to perhaps obtain that much needed outfield offensive boost. Both of those names make sense. The Royals' pitching is an extreme strength this season, both in the rotation and the bullpen, and there is some depth to help minimize the negative ramifications of trading either of those names away in order to make this team a more well-rounded entity as whole by improving their outfield.

Now, on the contrary, the inclusion of Garcia, and to a lesser extent India, makes little to no sense whatsoever. Kansas City's outfield may be fueling their offensive woes, but the fact remains the entire offense as a whole is struggling.

Through Monday, they sit 27th in wRC+, 25th in OPS and 28th in runs scored. So, dealing a name like Garcia and replacing him with "a power-hitting outfielder of equal value" would simply just be changing the position on the field where positive offensive production is coming from. A swap like this wouldn't change the course of the Royals offense because their bench and minor league depth currently isn't deep enough to adequately replace Garcia at third base.

If they were to use Garcia to acquire an outfielder and then go out and get an impact bat at third base, say Eugenio Suárez of the Arizona Diamondbacks for example, that could make some sense. But again, given how Garcia has performed this season and the stage he's at in his career, it seems extremely unrealistic that J.J. Picollo and Co. would be exploring options to trade him in any scenario.

Garcia is still just 25-years-old and is under team control through 2029. Trading him now when he's just finally become the type of hitter Royals fans have long-awaited him to be doesn't make sense with so many years of control remaining.

Not only was he just named an All-Star for the first time in his career, Garcia has posted the best batting average and on-base percentage as well as the lowest strikeout rate among qualified Royals hitters this season. He also ranks second to only the great Bobby Witt Jr. in fWAR, wRC+, and OPS.

He's not just a good hitter, he's been a pivotal piece in keeping this Royals offense afloat and in a position to even be having conversations of being buyers at the trade deadline.

A contender-for-contender type trade like Bowden proposes isn't a bad idea by any means and could very well happen. But to trade one of the few pieces of this offense that does work strengthen the outfield seems completely counter-productive, especially when it's a star like Garcia.