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Kansas City Royals have already won the Jorge Soler trade

By Mitchell Wittman

BOSTON, MA - MAY 1: Jorge Soler #12 of the Kansas City Royals celebrates after hitting a three run home run against the Boston Red Sox during the thirteenth inning at Fenway Park on May 1, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - MAY 1: Jorge Soler #12 of the Kansas City Royals celebrates after hitting a three run home run against the Boston Red Sox during the thirteenth inning at Fenway Park on May 1, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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There’s been a lot of conversation over the past year and a half about what type of output would be required of Jorge Soler to validate the Kansas City Royals’ trade of Wade Davis.

Jorge Soler’s presence, and more importantly, his promise, have already guaranteed the trade a success for the Kansas City Royals. Most Royals fans will never forget where they were when Wade Davis struck out Wilmer Flores at Citi Field in 2015. I certainly never will. (I was in a break room at a hospital, for what that’s worth).

No, to Royals fans, you needn’t even mention any more context than the key players. When I say, “Wade Davis, Wilmer Flores, 2015”, that’s all that needs be said. I don’t have to mention what time of year it was, the count, or the implications of that strikeout. It’s one wavelength the entire city finds common.

For that reason, it’s hard to separate the love, the lore and the goosebumps from our memories of Davis’s time in Kansas City. You could even go as far as to say that Soler in Royal blue presents the possibility of being a no-win situation, from his perspective.

The jury, of course is still out on Soler, but so far in 2018, he’s shown that he can compete, and succeed, at a big-league level.

Many will never view the Kansas City Royals as winners in the deal, no matter what Soler does (short of maybe winning another World Series).

Those people are wrong.

When you seriously look at the situation through the clichéd “baseball is still a business” lens, it starts to become clear; whatever happens with Soler moving forward, whatever he becomes – the Royals won the trade.

Sure, the Royals got a lot less out of Soler in 2017 than they expected to. I don’t think the most cynical among us expected him to play in only 35 games, slashing .144/.245/.258.

But, at still just 25 years old, it’s not uncommon for players to struggle in every day roles. For reference, in his 25-year-old season, Mike Moustakas slashed .212/.271/.361 – a bit better, but not by much.

More importantly though, the team as a whole struggled. They underperformed in almost every facet of the game.

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The team’s struggles are what keys this argument. Wade Davis wasn’t pushing this team to the postseason. They were more than one closer away from making the postseason, and further than that away from making a run to the World Series.

Would he have helped last season? Sure. But the “business” dictates that Dayton Moore and his team look to the future. A future they knew wouldn’t include Wade Davis, whether that began in 2016 due to trade, or after the 2017 season due to free agency.

So, Moore got what he could for Davis. Turning a player, though loved, who was not for long in Kansas City into a potential team centerpiece for years to come.

And what has that player become? Though it’s still early, the returns on the trade in 2018 look promising. Soler leads the team in doubles and walks, and ranks in or near the top five in other singular categories.

More importantly, through Wednesday’s game, he’s leading the team in batting average at .312. He leads the team in the ever-increasingly valuable on-base percentage at .435, ranks second in slugging percentage at .538 and leads the team in OPS (on-base plus slugging) at .972.

He’s been either the best or second best offensive player through 30 games, depending on what you value. Sure, there have been struggles defensively, and he’ll always strike out at a fair clip, but it’s important to remember he’s still only 26.

The jury, of course is still out on Soler, but so far in 2018, he’s shown that he can compete, and succeed, at a big-league level.

Wade Davis is in Colorado, on a contract the Royals wouldn’t (and couldn’t) offer in their wildest dreams. We’ll always have the memories of Davis and those Royals teams, but at some point, as with everything, you have to turn the page.

So yes, the Kansas City Royals won the trade, simply by having Soler in Royal blue.

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