Kansas City Royals have officially won Jorge Soler trade from 2017
The Kansas City Royals traded for Jorge Soler prior to the 2017 season and after he belted his 39th home run of the season, breaking the franchise’s all-time single season home run record, they’ve officially won that trade with the Cubs.
Once upon a time, the Kansas City Royals weren’t bad. In fact, they were actually pretty good. But at the same time, they were trying to remain competitive by trading off some of their better pieces for players under club control who could help the Royals compete down the stretch.
After missing the postseason in 2016, the Royals decided to shoot their shot by trading their shutdown closer Wade Davis to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Jorge Soler. It was a simple one-for-one trade and it was interesting at the time because both fan bases seemed disappointed by the return for their team.
The Royals traded for Soler because he provided a legitimate power hitter and he was under club control through 2022. The problem with Soler was that he wasn’t getting a lot of playing time in Chicago so the experience wasn’t really there. He also had been banged up a lot during his time there.
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The Cubs traded for Davis to give them a legitimate piece in their bullpen and help them get back to the World Series in the 2017 season after they had won it all in 2016. Davis only had one year of club control left, so Cubs fans felt like they gave up a potential future star for a rental reliever (I mean – they weren’t wrong).
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On paper, it seemed like a fair trade. The Cubs needed a dominant closer to get them a second straight World Series title while the Royals were hoping to add pieces here and there to remain relevant in the future.
While the Royals haven’t stayed relevant (not even by a long shot), Jorge Soler has been a tremendous addition to the team. It didn’t start out all that great, as he didn’t contribute much in 2017 due to injuries and not really having a place on that year’s team. He batted well under the Mendoza line that year (.144 in 97 at bats).
In 2018, Soler made strides, but injured his foot in late June and ended up missing the remainder of the season. The hope was that he’d be able to get healthy and have a consistent role on the 2019 squad, and it turns out he’s been one of the few reasons to watch the team play this season. He’s played in a career-high 139 games, so it’s obvious that health has been a huge part for Soler’s red hot season.
On Tuesday night, Soler broke the Royals’ all-time single season record after he crushed his 39th home run. Now, without question, the Kansas City Royals have won that trade they made prior to the 2017 season.
To be fair, it was definitely a trade that the Royals had the edge in.
The only way the Cubs could have really won the deal was if Davis played a pivotal part in them getting to and winning the World Series in 2017 and/or if he re-signed with them following that season. The Cubs didn’t get past the NLCS that year and Davis wound up signing a large contract with the Colorado Rockies after the season concluded.
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It’s been fun getting to watch Jorge Soler during his time with the Kansas City Royals and while it took him awhile to get going, he’s definitely cooking now. It’s nice to see that Dayton Moore hit this trade out of the park after his last few deals have been disappointing.
Even if it somehow goes all downhill from here, the Royals are lucky to have Jorge Soler for this season alone.