Royals Rumors: Kansas City Dropped the Ball on Corey Dickerson

The Kansas City Royals may have had a chance to upgrade their offense as Corey Dickerson was traded by the Colorado Rockies for a reliever.

The plan is for the Kansas City Royals to go into the season with Jarrod Dyson as their right fielder, or more likely, a platoon with Dyson and Paulo Orlando. Neither player has shown any indication they are an everyday Major League player.

The Colorado Rockies had a surplus of outfielders after signing Gerardo Parra a few weeks ago. Last night, they traded Corey Dickerson, a talented hitting outfielder with four team controllable years left to the Tampa Bay Rays, who have even more outfielders now than the Rockies did, for a reliever.

If Corey Dickerson could be traded for Jacob McGee, could he have been traded for Kelvin Herrera?

According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Rockies traded Dickerson and third baseman Kevin Padlo, their 14th ranked prospect, for McGee and German Marquez, a pitching prospect ranked as the Rays’ 25th best prospect.

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The KC Royals couldn’t match that deal?

McGee is due to make $4.8 million this year, according to Spotrac.com. He is arbitration eligible next season, so unless something goes terribly wrong for him, he will be due a raise. Kelvin Herrara is going to make just $2.55 million in 2016, and would be arbitration-eligible for the next two seasons.

Considering Dickerson isn’t even arbitration eligible yet, the Royals’ evident disinterest wasn’t about money. Kansas City has plenty of bullpen depth they could have traded and Herrera, you would think, would have as much value as Jacob McGee.

Even FanGraphs thought this was a bad trade for the Rockies.

Why wouldn’t the Royals be interested? Dickerson does have some extreme lefty/righty splits. He’s very good against right-handers – sporting a .313/.358/.577/.934 slash line – and significantly less effective against left-handers – .246/.299/.377/.677. At least, his splits are favorable since batters face more right-handed pitchers than southpaws.

Of course, Dickerson also hit much better at Coors Field than on the road. At home, Dickerson was magnificent, with a slash of .355/.410/.675/.1.085. On the road – .249/.286/.410/.695. Despite having 19 more games on the road in his career, he has a whopping 26 fewer extra base hits away from Coors Field.

These number may have scared away the Royals, as well as other teams.

On top of everything else, Dickerson dealt with plantar fasciitis and a broken rib last season, according to MLB Trade Rumors. He played in just 65 games in 2015.

One other small thing that needs to be pointed out. Corey Dickerson has only played four games in right field in his Major League career.

He’s seen most of his time in left field or center, and those positions are locked down for the Royals. Maybe the team didn’t think he could play in right field.

Still, with all of the red flags, and admittedly there are several, taking a chance on a cheap, talented, young outfielder, something of which the Royals are running short, taking a chance here seems like a good dart throw.

The bullpen has been a strength for sure over the last few years, but it is also a position of depth for the Royals. Teams trade from their positions of depth to fill their positions of need. It seems like trading Hererra for Dickerson would have been a gutsy move on the part of Dayton Moore.

Trades don’t happen in a vacuum. For all we know, Moore floated this idea or a similar one to the Rockies, and they nixed it. Who knows?

It is just a bit discouraging seeing who the Rockies got in return, and knowing the KC Royals could have at least matched that.

Hererra is three years younger than McGee and has one more year of club control. Their Earned Run Averages are similar – 2.60 for Hererra, 2.72 for McGee. The WHIP’s are close – Hererra, 116, McGee, 1.02. If the Rockies liked McGee, Hererra should have been at least as attractive.

In December, MLB Trade Rumors mentioned there were Royals rumors that Kansas City had an interest in the Rockies outfielders. Of course, this was before they re-signed Alex Gordon, but Dickerson was cheap enough, he should have stayed on their radar.

It just feels as if the Royals blew their chance to upgrade their offense. Maybe Dyson or Orlando will surprise. Maybe Brent Eibner or Jorge Bonifacio will take a leap forward in their development and earn a starting spot.

Let’s hope one of these things happen, and Dickerson is just a product of his home field in Colorado.

Next: Royals All-Time Triples Leaders

The Royals may be have missed a golden opportunity to improve their offense, but they seem content to move forward with the players they have. They have earned our trust, so let’s see what happens moving forward.

We will keep an ear out for more KC Royals rumors as they might break.

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