Kansas City Royals: What was the point of trading for Billy Burns?

The Kansas City Royals made a trade for outfielder Billy Burns two years ago. What exactly was the point of that trade?

In 2016, the Kansas City Royals were trying to get back to the playoffs and repeat as World Series champions. They had some summer call-ups that fans quickly grew attached to, with one of them being Brett Eibner.

You see, Eibner wasn’t anything special, but he had a walk-off hit in that crazy game against the White Sox when the Royals came back down seven runs in the final inning. From then on, Eibner was basically a Royals legend.

Little did we know, however, that the Kansas City Royals would soon flip Eibner in a trade. He was sent to the Oakland Athletics just a few months later in exchange for A’s outfielder Billy Burns.

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I know why the Royals thought the trade was a good idea at the time, and yes, at the time I agreed with them. Jarrod Dyson was going to be a free agent in 2018 and the Royals didn’t have a whole lot of use for him at that time. He was basically a fourth outfielder and an occasional pinch runner for the team.

Burns was pretty much the same player, which made Dyson expendable. Burns also was speedy and played good defense with just okay offense, so acquiring a younger version of Dyson seemed to be a smart move.

Fast forward two years later and that hasn’t been the case. Burns has spent very limited time in the majors, appearing in just 31 games for the Royals since 2016. He hasn’t done much offensively during that time either, slashing a mere .233/.261/.233 in 43 at bats.

It’s not like Brett Eibner has done a ton in his major league career (in fact, he’s since been traded two more times after the Royals dealt him), but there was talk awhile ago about how he might be converted into a pitcher. That would have made him a much more appealing prospect to the Royals at this point in time.

Back to Billy Burns though, the trade hasn’t worked out, which is a bummer. He’s going to be remembered most for taking care of that praying mantis during what was one of the most annoying storylines ever “the Rally Mantis”. Aside from taking care of an insect, what has Billy Burns provided for the Kansas City Royals?

Burns was designated for assignment earlier this season, but remains in Triple-A Omaha and is batting .253. He’s 28 years old so it’s unlikely he makes any kind of positive impact with the Royals and that’s a shame.

Maybe Brett Eibner wouldn’t have amounted to anything either, but at least there was the slight chance that he could have become a mediocre reliever instead. Anything that could have been utilized in the majors would have been fine.

Moving forward, the Royals have no use for Billy Burns. They’ve got a plethora of outfielders now and Burns hasn’t shown anything offensively in the minor leagues. This is yet another trade that hasn’t worked out in Dayton Moore’s favor.