At 38-59, the Kansas City Royals are in the midst of one of the more disappointing seasons in recent memory. What was supposed to be a playoff campaign has since turned into a potential blowup of a team meant to contend.
The last hope for a potential push up the American League standings hinges on what general manager J.J. Picollo does at the coming Aug. 3 trade deadline. And his first move doesn't inspire a lot of confidence that he's capable of getting the job done. Within the past 24 hours, Kansas City has completed a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers to acquire right-handed relief pitcher Easton McGee in exchange for cash considerations.
First off, how much cash Picollo gave up will remain unknown, but it certainly could not have been much, which may seem like a plus. But there's a reason Milwaukee was seemingly unmoved in getting rid of McGee. And second, this is a move that, in all honesty, we'll probably look back in a couple of years and shrug our shoulders because it amounted to nothing. Kansas City clearly needs to make big changes, and this isn't a good start.
Royals acquiring RHP Easton McGee in first trade of the season won't get many excited
To give a little background on the newly acquired McGee, he was a 2016 fourth-round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Rays, and did not see his first MLB action until the 2022 season, where he pitched just three innings and gave up four hits. A year later McGee moved to the Seattle Mariners, where he started one game and threw for an impressive six and two-thirds innings, allowing just one hit.
Unfortunately, McGee in that same game suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John Surgery, wiping out a promising 2023 campaign and causing him to find another ballclub with the Brewers. Last season, McGee pitched nearly 15 innings on an abysmal 5.52 ERA. And before coming to the Royals, he had appeared in just two games as a last-ditch bullpen depth piece.
Obviously, adding pieces to the bullpen isn't a bad idea for the Royals. But when it's a guy like McGee who has undergone just about the worst injury a pitcher can suffer and has had such little success on very limited experience, there are doubts as to why the trade was even okayed by Royals brass.
Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro, who may be on the hot seat himself, need to understand that players like Bobby Witt Jr. don't come around every day. His talent deserves to be used to its full capacity in a winning organization. And until the people in charge realize that and make the necessary moves to ensure that Witt stays happy, things could get bleak real fast.
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