Kansas City Royals: What needs to happen for Royals to make playoffs

TRADING FOR MULTIPLE PITCHERS

I know a lot of Kansas City Royals fans won’t to hear this, but Dayton Moore is going to have to ship some prospects off if the Royals want to contend for another title. It worked in 2015, with the Royals sending off five pitchers for two rental players and ultimately winning the World Series several months later.

This year’s team isn’t as talented as that 2015 squad was, but they have the ability to make it back to the Fall Classic. The Royals will need some help in order to do that, however, and it will have to come in the form of a relief pitcher and a starter.

After seeing what the Cubs gave up for Quintana, it won’t be easy for the Royals to get a legitimate starter.

A starter wouldn’t have been necessary a few weeks ago, but with Nate Karns likely done for the year, the rotation got weakened significantly. The Royals can’t keep trotting Travis Wood out as their fifth starter or eventually it’s going to cost them games in the divisional and Wild Card race.

After seeing what the Cubs gave up for Quintana, it won’t be easy for the Royals to get a legitimate starter. They could go for someone like Jaime Garcia of the Braves or try and go big with a trade for Sonny Gray of the Athletics.

The Royals also need another arm in the bullpen, and guys like Brad Hand and Pat Neshek are going to be popular names linked to Kansas City. If Moore could lock down one of those guys, this Royals bullpen would be back to being one of the best in the league.

With a lack of talented prospects and not a ton of cash to take on contracts, the Kansas City Royals might only be able to sit by and watch while other teams stack up for the postseason. If they do that, they probably won’t be celebrating in October.