Kansas City Royals should trade Lucas Duda no matter what

By Leigh Oleszczak | Jul 25, 2018

KANSAS CITY, MO - APRIL 29: Lucas Duda #21 of the Kansas City Royals catches a ball against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium on April 29, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Lucas Duda /

The Kansas City Royals aren’t going anywhere this season and will be sellers at the trade deadline. Lucas Duda needs to be someone they flip in a trade regardless of the return.

Trading someone no matter the players in return might sound crazy to Kansas City Royals fans, but it makes sense. Lucas Duda is only signed to play for the Royals this year so the team gains nothing by keeping him on their roster.

In fact, if nothing else, it hurts the Royals. If Duda plays first base, he’s blocking Hunter Dozier or whatever other player could potentially be the future first baseman of the Royals. The problem with Duda is that he’s been hurt and not many teams in contention are probably going to vie for his services.

Duda hasn’t been awful, but he hasn’t been a good enough player that teams are actively going to seek a trade for him. If they do want to add Duda to their roster, it’ll be for very little in return. If Kelvin Herrera couldn’t bring in top prospects, Lucas Duda certainly won’t.

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At this point, the Royals need to take whatever they can get from teams. With Duda being a free agent in October, there’s no positive with keeping him on the roster. If another team has an injury to their first baseman or needs a decent hitter, they could come calling for Duda, but the Royals shouldn’t expect much in return.

Duda is currently slashing .247/.315/.405 with eight home runs and 33 RBI in 238 plate appearances. He’s not a game changing player, but he has been one of the best hitters in Kansas City this season, which is all kinds of sad.

We all know the Kansas City Royals are going to trade Mike Moustakas, but Duda is another name to keep an eye on even if he’s not drawing a ton of attention. A team might get desperate enough to add him or just decide they could use another bat or well-rounded player.

The situation kind of reminds me of when the Royals traded for Jonny Gomes late in the 2015 season. No, Duda isn’t Gomes, but the Royals didn’t NEED Gomes and added him anyway. The Royals sent the Braves (Gomes’ team before coming to Kansas City) one minor league prospect in return.

If you’re the Royals, you take a deal similar to that for Lucas Duda. He’s not going to command a huge haul, but the team has to trade him regardless of what they get back.

Now, if a team isn’t interested, that’s another story, but it’s hard to imagine NO ONE would be interested in adding Lucas Duda. He has playoff experience and is fine at the plate. Someone will come calling, but it won’t be for much in return.

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