The Kansas City Royals may not be quite ready to completely throw in the towel on the season quite yet, but as FanSided’s Robert Murray put it this week, they’re amongst the teams “trending toward waving the white flag after their slow starts”. And when staring down the barrel of a 31-45 start, even a 6.5 game gap from the third and final AL Wild Card spot seems almost insurmountable with July fast appraoching.
This makes selling ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline that much more likely for the Royals, as insiders are already speculating who might be on the move. On Friday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com listed potential landing spots for 10 trade deadline candidates and on it was Royals starter Michael Wacha. He listed three potential landing spots for the veteran right-hander; the Athletics, the Yankees and the strangest of them all…the Chicago White Sox.
On the surface, yes, these are all teams in postseason contention this year, and yes, these are all contenders who could use starting pitching help. But it’s hard to imagine the Royals sending a name like Wacha to a division rival, no matter what they might be able to get in return for him.
As much as it may come as a surprise that the perennially rebuilding White Sox find themselves in a position where they could feasibly win the AL Central this year, the more time goes on, the more they look like a lasting contention threat in this division beyond 2026. Their youth movement of Colson Montgomery, Munetaka Murakami, Chase Meidroth and Miguel Vargas is proving to be one to build around, so perhaps they’re a few additional rotation pieces away from being even more of a threat.
Despite his aging profile, Wacha has been a bill of consistency when it comes to producing respectable mid-3.00s ERAs and he’s still under contract through 2027 and potentially 2028 with his club option. This makes it all the more unwise for the Royals to deal him to a division rival when their goal seems to be contending while Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia are under contract through 2030.
If not the White Sox, where should the Royals trade Michael Wacha?
As valuable as Michael Wacha might be and as reluctant as the Royals might be to deal him away, with Kris Bubic’s health status uncertain at the moment after setbacks in his rehab process, the Royals might need to shift focus and find ways to retool for next season elsewhere.
The other two names Feinsand listed in the Athletics and Yankees seem like more suitable options. The links between the Royals and A’s are already there, as they were the team reportedly toying with the idea of trading for Bubic earlier this month. And the Yankees seem even more logical a suitor given their big market status and ability to easily take on the remainder of his $18 million contract this season and $14 million salary in 2027 and potentially 2028 if they so choose.
And beyond that, for a veteran starter with the track record he has, along with his postseason experience and AL-leading 10 quality starts already this year, the Royals should have no shortage of other potential suitors lining up for Wacha’s services.
Perhaps it’s time for the Royals to really attack this window and find ways to strengthen their team for 2027 and beyond by trading someone of real value like Wacha. They just have to ensure they don’t shoot themselves in the foot by strengthening a division rival in the process.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
