Kansas City Royals: Offseason trade targets from NL Central

Pittsburgh Pirates

Jesus Liranzo, RHP Relief Pitcher

Jesus Liranzo, the 24-year-old (25 in March) RHP relief pitcher, had an excellent 2019 season at AA, but struggled terribly in AAA. Liranzo, for his minor league career, has put up a 4.03 ERA, 1.322 WHIP, and 321 Ks in 286.0 innings of relief work in a middle reliever role.

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Liranzo features an explosive fastball 97-102 mph, which explains why he’s bounced around to several organizations. Liranzo doesn’t appear to have a firm grasp on his mechanics (fails a repeating delivery) and knowledge of pitching which is why he isn’t on the 40-man roster and he will be available in the Rule 5 draft.

If Liranzo ever takes to coaching and finds his way (his 2019 season at AA might indicate positive development), he could be a dominant reliever. Acquiring Liranzo is the high risk/high reward move that the Royals should make this offseason to potentially land dominate reliever.

Possible trade offer: Cash Considerations or player to be named later

CONCLUSION

The Kansas City Royals could use each one of these players to improve their roster for 2020 and beyond. These players exhibit the qualities and potential to be market inefficiencies an organization like the Royals need to take advantage of being a small market team with limited resources to add roster help via free agency.