We see a lot of mock trades on the internet these days, and frankly, a lot of them aren’t worth reading into.
A wise Kansas City Royals fan knows that Bobby Witt Jr. isn’t getting traded, and will even likely ignore a trade idea involving ace Cole Ragans. But if there’s one player on the Royals who is definitely available these days, it’s All-Star starting pitcher Kris Bubic.
Bubic is coming off injury and only has one year left before free agency, and therefore doesn’t have the trade value the Royals were perhaps hoping he would. Is there still an available player out there somewhere who could satisfy what Kansas City is looking for?
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Brett Baty would be great get for Royals
On Wednesday, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller proposed a hypothetical trade that the Royals should probably make if it’s on the table: swapping Bubic for New York Mets third baseman/utility player Brett Baty.
The Mets did finally upgrade their rotation in a big way with the acquisition of Freddy Peralta, but are they done? And are they actually planning to use Brett Baty in left field, or is he the ultimate expendable asset in a New York infield that would still be over-crowded even if you remove him from the equation? He could finally get everyday work if he gets shipped to the Royals.”
Coming into last season, Baty largely hadn’t panned out yet in the big leagues. He changed that perception with a .748 OPS/111 OPS+ and 3.1 bWAR in 130 games a year ago, while leaving room to keep growing if his on-base percentage ticks up a bit more.
The only flaw in this plan is that Baty’s primary position is occupied in Kansas City by All-Star and Gold Glover Maikel Garcia. But the 26-year-old could indeed shift to left field, as he’s athletic enough to do it. And don’t forget about second base, where the Royals made the somewhat unpopular decision to tender Jonathan India a one-year contract.
Baty comes with four years of team control, and if he were to build on his output from this past season, the Royals would be brilliant to nab him for the final year of Bubic before he likely leaves anyway.
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