Royals might be on trade watch for starting pitching after Matt Quatraro's comments

The Royals seem to have a new lease on life these days. Their 1-0 extra innings victory over the Braves saw them finish their six-game home stand at 4-2, while capturing their third straight series victory and improving their July record to 15-9.

While this win definitely displayed the need for more offense, and plenty of outfielders being linked to them of late, manager Matt Quatraro made some comments ahead of Wednesday's game that perhaps seemed to imply the Royals' trade net is larger than just the outfield or the offense in general.

The matter of pitching came up in regard to their plans for starters this weekend, and Quatraro's remarks could've revealed that the Royals may be considering a move for starting pitching help.

Royals might be on trade watch for starting pitching ahead of Thursday's deadline

When discussing weekend pitching plans for their series in Toronto, Noah Cameron's availability for Saturday's game was brought up.

According to MLB.com's Anne Rogers, Quatraro said that breakout rookie sensation was "completely available" for Saturday's game against the Blue Jays, but he did mention there are other factors to consider.

"We also have the ability to pivot based on match ups, see how we get through today and what happens at the deadline," Quatraro told Rogers. "There's a lot of things that could still happen.”

We know now that with the bullpen doing it's job today, nobody was overly was taxed as the unit was quite efficient in the 10-inning shutout.

Rogers brought up three points as to what these Cameron-related comments could indicate. First, was simply Cameron starts anyways on Saturday and that Quatraro may have been simply evaluating his options at the time. Then, with only three starters currently on the roster, Rogers outlines that they might be looking to break up one of their two bullpen days.

But the third option Rogers mentioned is the juicier talking point, and that's that the Royals might be exploring acquiring another starter before tomorrow's deadline.

It's no state secret that the Royals rotation is in a near-shambolic state at the moment, having lost Cole Ragans to the IL back in June and then both Michael Lorenzen and Kris Bubic since the All-Star break.

Besides bullpen days, veteran journeyman Rich Hill was one of the hopeful solutions to fill a gap, but after a decent enough start in his Royals debut, Kansas City DFA'd him on Tuesday after a very poor second turn through the rotation.

They do have other spot-starting options, such as the recently promoted Thomas Hatch as well as series of other names currently in Triple-A Omaha. All of those names though are either ones with spotty recent MLB track records like Dallas Keuchel, recovering from very long-term injuries like Kyle Wright or unproven prospects like Luinder Avila.

Seeing how Rich Hill flamed out in his opportunity to fill a void, it's understandable if the Royals' front office isn't overly keen on repeating that again, hence the idea of acquiring a starter via the trade market.

This isn't the first time the Royals have been linked to the idea of adding pitching as it was Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that mentioned last week that the Royals "likely will pursue pitching help" in one of his baseball intel briefings.

Whether or not J.J. Picollo and Co. address their current chaotic pitching situation with a trade deadline acquisition remains to be seen, but it certainly seems like a storyline Royals fans should be monitoring before tomorrow evening's deadline.