Royals Rumors: Jason Vargas could provide huge haul for Royals

Royals rumors will really begin to fly if the Kansas City Royals can’t climb back into serious contention in the next few weeks. The biggest name from all of the pending Royals free agents is starting pitcher Jason Vargas.

Fast forward to the end of the month. If the KC Royals are sitting pretty far out of any playoff spot (yes, even this early on), then Jason Vargas is going to be highly sought after.

Vargas has been one of the best pitchers in all of the major leagues so far this season. He’s currently sporting an ERA of 1.01, which is the best ERA in the entire sport right now. What Vargas has done this season has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Assuming Vargas stays sharp (he’s not going to have a 1.01 ERA all season), the Royals should be able to land some great prospects from a team interested in acquiring him. That’s exciting to think about, even if it means that the Kansas City Royals would be trading away their best player this season and essentially giving up on 2017.

Playoff contenders are willing to give up big name prospects in order to get a rental player if they think that this season is their one shot to go the distance and win a World Series. Think back to just two years ago to what the Royals gave up for then Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto. The Royals forked over three left-handed pitching prospects in order to acquire the ace from Cincinnati and it turned out to be worth it.

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Another prime example of a team giving up prospects for a pitcher is the Dodgers, who went after Rich Hill of Oakland last year. In return, Los Angeles shipped over Frankie Montas, Grant Holmes, and Jharel Cotton, which was a mighty big haul. It’s worth noting, however, that Josh Reddick was also included in that trade.

If the Kansas City Royals can land even just two young pitching prospects to place in their farm system, that’d be huge. The farm system has taken a huge hit with some of the trades the Royals had to make and Vargas could easily bring in a few big names to set the Royals up for success down the road.

While I’m not wishing for the KC Royals to tank and be awful, the thought of acquiring some youngsters to put in the minors and bring up next season is rather exciting. If that makes me a bad fan, then so be it. This current team looks pretty lousy.

Jason Vargas is, without a doubt, the name to watch when it comes to Royals rumors. Guys like Lorenzo Cain, Kelvin Herrera, Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas are going to be on the trade block too, but I don’t see those guys providing as much of a haul as a potential number two or three pitcher in a playoff rotation.

While Vargas hasn’t been linked to any teams yet, that talk will surely begin if the Royals are still bad at the end of the month. He’ll be a hot commodity and the Royals rumors will be exciting to say the least, even if they don’t necessarily spell out a World Series this season.

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