Royals Rumors: Edinson Volquez Could Be Trade Bait
With the Kansas City Royals slowly seeing their playoff chances dwindle, the team is becoming a potential seller at the MLB trade deadline. This is causing Royals rumors to fly every which way, and the latest involves Edinson Volquez.
It’s been a few seasons since the Kansas City Royals were in serious talks of selling off one of their pieces. That’s what winning does, after all. It takes you out of the selling picture and makes you a buyer, which is what the Royals had to do last year in order to fill the missing pieces on their roster and make a legit postseason run.
The 2016 season, however, has been anything but that.
Sure, the Royals are only a few games under .500, but they’re several games out of the AL Central race and fighting with five or six other teams for a Wild Card spot.
Simply put: Guys are going to be on the trading block this weekend, and one such name that might be departing Kansas City is Edinson Volquez.
For one, Volquez is in the last year of a two-year contract he signed prior to the 2015 season. He has an option worth 17 million, but it’s doubtful that the team shoots him that offer.
Passan on Volquez's future in KC: "I'm not going to give Edinson Volquez a qualifying offer for 17 million because he WILL accept it."
— 610SportsKC (@610SportsKC) July 28, 2016
With the rate that starting pitchers are going during this trade season and with how much teams are willing to give up, it might be wise for the Royals to ship Volquez off to the highest bidder.
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The good part of trading Eddie is that the Royals could use young prospects who are ready to help the team in the near future. If Jeremy Hellickson of the Phillies is worth three or four prospects, Volquez most certainly is as well (though he does have a higher ERA and is a few years older, but still).
The bad part is that if Volquez is shipped off, the KC Royals’ rotation next year will be bleak. It’d likely consist of Danny Duffy, Yordano Ventura, Jason Vargas, maybe Ian Kennedy, and who else? Kennedy has been in talks of being dealt with Wade Davis, so that leaves only two for sure starters in 2017 (we have no idea if Vargas will be ready to go or even be the same pitcher he once was).
Sending Edinson Volquez to another team basically sends the message that this team is giving up on the season and looking towards 2017.
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I, for one, am okay with trading Volquez, but only if the price is right. The team wanting to acquire him should be coughing up three or four worthy prospects. He’s in the last year of his deal and there’s a chance that the team might not re-sign him next year, so why not see what you can get for the guy?
Max Rieper of Royals Review listed eight teams that could possibly be in play for Volquez’s services. Among them were the Orioles, Red Sox, Rangers, and Dodgers.
What do you think, Royals fans? Did Edinson Volquez pitch his final game as a Kansas City Royal on Friday or will he stick around for the rest of the season?