The Kansas City Royals are perhaps the No. 1 team looking for corner outfielders this winter, but so far, they’ve missed out on those who have come off the board.
Kansas City probably never would have entertained taking on the remainder of Brandon Nimmo’s contract, as the former New York Mets star was shipped to the Texas Rangers on Sunday. But Taylor Ward, who last week was traded from the Los Angeles Angels to the Baltimore Orioles, has long seemed like a feasible target.
As it turns out, the Royals were indeed in on Ward, and not only this offseason. But a beat reporter’s explanation for why the trade chips didn’t fall in Kansas City’s favor is altogether forgivable.
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In a recent column, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported that the Royals made a bid for Ward, but were shot down once the Angels were able to obtain 26-year-old right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, who profiles as an immediate mid-rotation starter if healthy, from Baltimore.
“Taylor Ward would have been a great fit, and the Royals have targeted him for a long time,” Rogers wrote. “The Angels haven’t been ready to move him until this offseason.
“The Royals were in on him again this winter, swapped offers with the Angels, but in the end, the Angels got a young starter (yes, with injury questions) who is under team control for four seasons. The Orioles get one season with Ward. Interesting trade, for sure.”
Rodriguez was a first-round pick in 2018 (11th overall), and as mentioned, the Angels will have him for three more seasons after Ward’s contract is set to expire. It was this imbalance of team control in a deal involving a very solid, but not elite outfielder that had many scratching their heads after the deal.
The only truly comparable piece the Royals would have had to trade the Angels to counter Rodriguez would have been Noah Cameron, who probably doesn’t have Rodriguez’s upside, but is the same age, carries less health concerns, and kept hard contact to a minimum this year in a way Rodriguez hasn’t yet proven he can do consistently.
Sometimes, you get beat to the punch, and Royals fans likely would have been up in arms about trading a Cameron-type pitcher for just a year the inconsistent Ward. But the question now becomes which corner outfielders the Royals can realistically obtain, because the supply isn’t bountiful.
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