Royals Rumors: Early look at Royals trades so far in 2019

The MLB trade deadline is less than two weeks away, meaning there will be a flurry of Royals rumors between now and the July 31st deadline.

While MLB fans haven’t seen big name moves yet there have been a slow roll of smaller moves made by MLB teams. The Kansas City Royals are no exception. This is an early look at how the trade season has shaped up for the boys in blue and how these early moves will impact the team’s plans as they move forward in their rebuilding efforts.

So, what moves have the Royals made so far?

The first Royals trade was with the Oakland A’s. In the deal, the Royals sent Homer Bailey to Oakland and the Royals received Oakland’s 17th best prospect Kevin Merrell, who the A’s drafted out of South Florida University.

According to Baseball America, Merrell was hitting a paltry .246 at Double-A Midland before being sent to KC, but his triples (4) and stolen bases (13) do fit in with the type of players Dayton Moore tends to stock the farm with. More important than his Double-A numbers is his age. He is just 23 and has been slotted in with Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

In the trade, the Royals gave up veteran Homer Bailey, who had pitched to a serviceable 4.80 ERA. In 18 games the 33-year-old Bailey had seven wins and six losses while having given up 12 home runs with 38 walks.

While this is not a home run type of trade, the Royals did a serviceable job in capitalizing on Bailey’s value for a prospect that slid into 14th on the Royals prospect rankings. This type of trade will only make the other Royals prospects better by an increase in internal competition.