Royals should be calling these two familiar trade partners ahead of upcoming deadline

With July firmly upon us, the Kansas City Royals will need to make some decisions soon when it comes to their direction at the upcoming trade deadline. While they haven't officially committed one way or the other, there's no denying that this team is likely to assume a sellers role at this trade deadline as the worst team in baseball. The question is though, how far will they go?

With the expectations that this team carried coming into the season, a retool seems in order. Underperformance has certainly been a factor, but the Royals have also been extremely injury plagued this season. On paper their core is much better than a 35-53 record would indicate. This means that perhaps smaller scale moves that won't disrupt the future in a major way but could fuel a retool might be their best option ahead of Aug. 3.

If this is the case than perhaps a pair of key partners from last year's trade deadline in the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres might prove to be just as viable this time around as well, even if the Royals are going in a different direction than they were this time last year. The Royals made a pair of deals with the Pirates last season that saw them net Adam Frazier and Bailey Falter. And the Freddy Fermin trade with the Padres saw Kansas City land both Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert.

This season, both San Diego and Pittsburgh are outside the NL Wild Card picture at the moment, but are well within the hunt at 4.0 games back of the third and final spot.

This could make Kansas City a logical place for both of them to turn to. With so many teams still in the hunt, neither seems like the should really mortgage the future for a chance at a best of three series, but both should still be motivated to make between-the-margin moves to try and make the most of their efforts that got them into this competitive spot.

These are the types of moves Kansas City should be motivated to make themselves, deals that take advantage of expiring contracts or valuable role players to add to their core and shift their focus to the 2027 season.

Royals have plenty of trade candidates that could fit needs of Padres, Pirates

Starting with the Padres, their biggest has to be their starting rotation. They look extremely thin while also holding the fifth highest staff ERA in baseball at 4.77 entering Independence Day action.

Perhaps this is where veteran starting arms like Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo could come into play as stabilizing rocks to help calm the storm. Wacha looks like an All-Star candidate this season with a 3.31 ERA and trails only Cristopher Sánchez in quality starts this year with 12.

Not far behind him in the Top 10 is Lugo with 10 quality starts of his own. While his 4.20 ERA is noticeably higher than Wacha's it's still respectable nonetheless and there's no denying that an arm just a few years removed from a Cy Young runner-up finish would still be an intriguing get.

And both have played in San Diego in the past, giving the Padres some comfort in familiarity which can potentially go a long way in a stretch run.

The Royals may have to take on a bad contract given the heftier AAVs still due to both Wacha and Lugo beyond 2026, but that could perhaps sweeten the pot of prospects they could receive in return like Bleacher Report's Zachary Rymer discussed recently when pitching a Royals-Padres trade himself last week.

Moving to the Pirates now, with a Paul Skenes-led rotation and an offense with the third highest wRC+ in baseball, one of their biggest needs at the deadline is their bullpen. As it stands right now, their relief corps sits in the bottom 10 in baseball in ERA and WHIP.

The Royals have plenty of names that could fit the bill for the Bucs in this department. John Schreiber has been one of the more reliable relievers in baseball of late and has rewritten the script on his 2026 season. Erasing a poor start and sporting a 3.18 ERA has made him into a potentially enticing rental option to shore up middle-to-late innings for a contender.

And while his back of the card stats may not look as strong as Schreiber's this season, fellow impending free agent Alex Lange could make sense as backend option as well as the Royals new primary closer. Gregory Soto may have a stronghold on the closer's role in Pittsburgh, but the more names capable of occupying the ninth the better, especially down the stretch and into October.

If the Pirates want something a little more long-term to continue the solid work they did this winter to climb out of competitive obscurity, then perhaps this could be a landing spot for breakout sensation Daniel Lynch IV and his two remaining years of control beyond 2026. The southpaw fits the bill of key late-inning arm with his 2.57 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and .185 BAA this season.

Not to mention, any contender could stand to add bench depth and names like Lane Thomas and Starling Marte could very well be ones that hold some attraction for contenders this summer.

The Royals have the tools to fuel a potential retool, now it's just a matter of using them. And in this case, familiarity might be their best friend this summer.

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