Kansas City Royals: Offseason trade targets from NL East
By Cody Rickman
The Kansas City Royals are in the position to explore the offseason trade market to address roster needs. In this five-part series, I explore possible trades with teams in the AL East, AL West, NL East, NL Central, and NL West.
Once the 2019 MLB playoffs are officially over, the Kansas City Royals will embark upon one of their busiest offseasons in recent memory. Since trades rarely happen within the same division I will omit any possible trades with the AL Central in these series of posts.
Here are several links highlighting several offseason changes and moves the team should make:
Upcoming big changes in organization
Prospects ready for 2020 action
NL East Trade Targets
Atlanta Braves
Patrick Weigel, Pitcher
Patrick Weigel, the 25-year-old starting pitcher, had a fantastic 2019 season pitching 79.0 innings of 2.73 ERA, 1.152 WHIP, and 71 Ks between AA/AAA.
The 6’6” Weigel was kept on a pitch count early in the season and only had one outing of over 80 pitches in 2019. At the end of the minor league season, Weigel was making appearances out of the bullpen.
With Weigel’s height and length, a bullpen assignment may be best the spot for him in order to mitigate issues of prolonged repetition of his mechanics. With pitchers, this height makes it difficult to repeat your mechanics for 90+ pitches in a starting role.
Weigel’s length makes the ball to appear faster than it is coming in on hitters (similar to Tyler Glasnow of Tampa Bay). His release point is closer to the plate and allows his 93-96 mph fastball to appear to have more velocity.
Weigel also possesses an above average slider (84-85 mph), curveball (76-77), and changeup (86-87). If Weigel is able to harness his mechanics in a starting role with his pitching arsenal, he projects to have a high ceiling as a number two/three starter (3.00-3.50 ERA).
Weigel still needs development with his mechanics to become a starter, but has a high floor as a dominant late inning reliever, if he is unable to become a starter. The Braves appeared to need dominant bullpen help in the playoffs and with the emergence of Ian Kennedy as reliable to potentially dominant closer, the Braves could move Weigel to get the bullpen help they need immediately for the 2020 season.
Possible trade offer: Ian Kennedy RHP (+50% salary retention)