Kansas City Royals: Five more trade scenarios for 2019

With the trade deadline looming, perhaps the best question to ask is this: will the Kansas City Royals make any substantial moves?

In other words: will they move on from a well-liked player? Will they be able to acquire an impact player, regardless of when that impact happens?

I don’t know.

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None of the above scenarios are based on anything I’ve heard. It’s just based on what I know about the players that I wrote about, the standings, what it looks like competing teams may need, and what could make the Kansas City Royals a better ball club in 2020 and beyond.

Being a small-market team, the Royals need to win just about every trade they make. In the first three scenarios presented, they win. They deal only veterans on expiring deals who (hopefully) wouldn’t be back in Kansas City next season.

The last two scenarios are trickier. Well, riskier, anyway.

Sometimes a team, even a small-market team, has to take some gambles to strike gold when the time comes. What complicates things even more with those last two scenarios is the fact that, from most things I’ve read and heard, Duffy and Merrifield are pretty good dudes.

How much stock does the Royals front office put into that? How much stock do other teams put into that?

This much is certain: the Kansas City Royals can afford to trade away guys like Diekman, Bailey, Hamilton, and Maldonado for lottery tickets.

But it should take more than that to trade Duffy.

And it should take multiple top prospects to pry away Merrifield.