Royals pull off three trades before the Trade Deadline | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Royals pull off three trades before the Trade Deadline | Kansas City Royals Podcast

The Royals were one of the busiest teams on deadline day. Let’s give you our thoughts on each and every move. Next on Locked on Royals. You are Locked on Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. You are tuned in to another edition of Locked Ony and the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can find me on Twitter for any Daily Royals content, Johnny J_15. That is JHNYJ_15. You also can catch our podcast on wherever you listen to them. You can go to Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Odyssey, and YouTube. Just be sure to hit the follow button and subscribe. For you first-time listeners wondering how this channel works, I bring you episodes Monday through Friday, 30 minutes in length, as well as 60-second YouTube shorts after the Royals games. You can also catch Chance Lebo, who hosts the Lockdown Royals postcast right here on this channel, and he goes live for about 15 to 20 minutes after each and every Royals game. So, that will continue again this weekend when the Royals are in Toronto. Before we get started, I want to tell you that today’s show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money and use code locked on MLB at monarchoney.com for 50% off on your first year. You talk about a whirlwind of a day, not just involving the Royals, but really everybody in baseball. I I can’t recall a crazier trade deadline than the trade deadline of 2025. And how much more fun is it to be a buyer on this day than a team like Minnesota who had one of the biggest fire sales I’ve ever seen from a team that’s not completely out of contention. But the plan for the Minnesota Twins moving forward is to just break it all down, tear it all down, and rebuild. Now, they didn’t trade away everybody of value, but they gutted that roster in those days or this type of day for a Twins fan is obviously incredibly tough. Then you got fans of the Padres’s who just saw Pller do what he usually does on deadline day, which is try to acquire everybody that is even being mentioned in trade rumors out there. The Padres’s were involved with a trade with the Royals, which we’ll talk about here in the first segment. But they go all in. They understand that they need to do everything in their power to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the West and then try to beat teams like the Phillies and the Mets in the postseason as well as the Dodgers. Then we get to a team like the Royals and for weeks we’re wondering what’s the plan. We had multiple segments about what really is the plan. I thought it was going to be a little bit of buying and selling, but as the smoke has cleared and as the dust has settled, this team was way more buying than they were selling. You can technically say they sold a little bit in trading away Freddy for me, but they got two big league arms in return. they only acquired players that can help this team now and help this team moving forward. So, you’ve got a little bit of the the rental return and then you’ve got the players with years of control. Let’s start with the first deal that was made at exactly 2:00 today, which was the Royals trading Freddy Fine to San Diego for Ryan Burgert and then also Steven Kolic. So, two arms that had been starting for the Padres’s. You had Burger who’s made uh seven starts this year and 11 appearances. And then you’ve got uh Kohic who has started 14 times this year in all 14 games that he’s appeared in. What did the Royals desperately need going into today? Well, they needed pitching. And I was way off. I was completely wrong on the Aaron Seal deal that I thought it would line up well. The White Sox didn’t even trade Aaron Seal. They did trade Adrien Hower to the Rays, but the Royals got two guys that have multiple years of control and two guys that you could pencil into your rotation right now. At least at the time, that’s what I thought. So, you have a guy like Ryan Burgerer coming over, a sub 2.9 RA. He’s pitched in over 35 innings this year. Uh, he’s got incredible run, incredible spin on the fast ball, got a slider to go with it, good movement. does struggle with command a little bit. Uh he doesn’t have a a very impressive walk rate. He does, you know, hurt himself in a couple of his outings where, you know, he throws just far too many wild pitches and not actual wild pitches, but wild in terms of of trying to find the zone. Runs up a high pitch count, can’t work that deep into the game. Then you have Steven Kolick who doesn’t have as impressive of an erra and he doesn’t have as impressive strikeout numbers but a really good kick change, got a really good sweep sweeper and he’s a ground ball pitcher. He is somebody that wants to pitch to contact and he’s actually coming off a quality start in his most recent outing for San Diego. Now Burger pitched on Tuesday and you had Kolk who pitched on Sunday. So, if the Royals were looking to pick somebody for Saturday, those two guys could be good options here. Now, Annie Rogers did report that everybody they acquired today is going on the 40man roster. And it sounds like everybody acquired today is going to be reporting to Kansas City. All of these moves are going to be announced tomorrow on who’s going up, who’s going down, who’s getting released. So, that will all be handled. We’ll probably cover that on our mailbag Friday a little bit depending on when that news is broken. Uh, but when you look at the upside of these two guys, it’s not just the movement. It’s not just the spin. I believe it’s the pitch ability to work that word in here. And also the fact that they’re young and have years of control. Now, it does sting to trade away a guy like Freddy Fine. One of my favorite guys to watch. And how many great moments did he have? I mean, he was by far and away one of the fan favorites on this team. Such a great story debuting later on in his career. I remember the Royals broadcast always talking about how when he was signed by the Royals, you know, he said, you know, here’s $100 or something along the lines of it was like a $100 bill and he’s like, if I don’t make it to the big leagues, you know, you can take this money back. Like he was just betting on himself or it was some story along the lines of that where, you know, don’t deserve this money right now. You know, I I’ll give you it back if I don’t make it to the big leagues or something along those lines. can’t quite remember. But anyways, it kind of showed the type of guy that he was, the type of player that he was where he was just a a dog really, for lack of a better term. He’s a grinder and he worked his way onto the roster first for bad Royals teams and then becoming a staple for good Royals teams and somebody you just always enjoyed watching play. He was great defensively behind the plate. He did have his limitations offensively, but I believe JJ Bakola made the right move here in striking while the iron was hot with AJ Prowler who was making moves left and right. And what did the Padres’s desperately need? They needed a catcher. They were not getting anything from former Royal Martine Maldonado and they were not getting anything from Elias Diaz. Freddy Ferine can absolutely be their everyday starter moving forward. And you were able to get two controllable arms, not just for this year, but for multiple years after this. I mean, I would say that I’m more excited about Burger, but still, you look at a guy like Kolic, who might be more I I don’t want to say more prepared to be starting games in this back half of the season because both of them have been starting, but I could see a world in which Kick just takes one of those spots for now and then maybe Burger’s pitching out of the bullpen because his stuff might play up a little bit more as a reliever. We’ll see though what they decide to do because they also acquired another starter today that could be making the start on Saturday and making starts moving forward. But it was the right time to trade Freddy Formine. You have three catchers in your system that you’re high on. And Freddy Fine is 30. He does have a couple more years of club control, but that doesn’t always matter when you’re talking about a 30-year-old catcher. Uh sometimes it does, but Freddy Fine was never going to be an everyday catcher in Kansas City. And the Royals desperately needed arms, not just now, but moving forward. Now, now you look to next year. You talk about having Cole Reagan’s back. You have Seth Lugo and Waka under contract. Cameron and Bubich are under contract. And then you’ve got Burger and Kick to be added to that group. And then, of course, Bailey Falter, who we’ll talk about in the second segment. But all of these guys now can make starts for you. In the last two years, that’s been an issue for the Royals where, yeah, they’ve got a great rotation. They’ve got a stable bullpen, but if guys start going down with injuries, who are you turning to? Clearly, this year it was turning to Rich Hill and turning to bullpen days. And that’s something they can’t afford to do anymore and trying to make a playoff push. And that’s why they did what they did today. They didn’t overpay for anybody in my opinion. Everybody they acquired from the All-Star break to now, they did not give up a ton. They didn’t give up anybody inside their top 20 in the system. The number one prospect they gave up in a trade was the final deal they made on the deadline day, which was Mike Ystreky for Junior Marte, who’s the Royals 20th ranked prospect. And let’s all be honest here, the Royals don’t have a very deep farm system. So, you give this team an opportunity to make a play in the back half of their schedule, and you’re also not mortgaging away the future for rental players. The rental players you got can help you now. Frasier’s an upgrade on the bench. Randall Griick and Mike Yremsky are both league average bats. You gave up a 28-year-old minor leaguer, a 4A arm, and then a high A arm who is pitching well this year, and I did like, but also still a bit of a lottery ticket. You don’t know if he’s going to progress into a big league arm. But for this specific trade, Freddy Fine did everything and then some as a member of the Royals. But GMs also understand that you don’t want to keep a guy around forever just because you love him so much. It is a a cold business in that way that sometimes if you get a deal like this, you can’t turn it down. And I’m not sure if the Royals called the Padres’s or the Padres’s called the Royals. With as aggressive as Prell was today for San Diego, I’d imagine that it was them calling the Royals about Famine. But I went and was reading stuff on the Padres’s timeline and boy were they upset about this deal. And they’re going to come to love Freddy Fine because of the type of player he is and the type of human that he is. But they did not want to part ways with Burger and then Kohic, especially for a catcher that wasn’t even starting every day for the Royals and on a team that’s 54 and 55 and not 20 games over 500. But the first deal they made of the day, I thought had tremendous upside. Freddy Fine, wish him nothing but the best. He was one of my favorite players to watch on this current roster and last year, but very excited at the upside and the amount of years of control for Ryan Burgerer and then Steven Kick. We’re going to take our first break of the show. When we come back, let’s talk about move number two, which was Bailey Falter. The second deal the Royals made with the Pirates in the last month, and they send over Ken Moss, a first base prospect, and left-handed reliever Evan Cisk. We’ll give you our thoughts on the trade next on Locked on Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Locked Podcast Network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson, and you can find us on wherever you listen to your podcast. want to tell you about Game Day Hue. Game Day Hugh makes clean, no logo gear with team inspired colorways for every pro and college fan base. It’s all about letting your color speak for you. Not giant logos, just smart, versatile style that works on game day, on the golf course, or anywhere in between. Right now, you can get 15% off with code MLB15 at gamedayshw.com. That’s gamedayh.com. The code even stacks on bundle deals. So now’s the time to load up. Let your colors talk because colors speak louder than words. That’s gamedayhw.com with code MLB15. And I’ve said this before. You’ve seen me wear hats all the time. I like to wear this locked on hat a lot. I like to wear a couple of my Kansas City Script hats. I’ve worn Chiefs hats before. But I’ve also worn those Game Day Hugh hats. And most importantly, they’re so comfortable and breathable. If you got a lot of hair like me up top and you can get sweaty, especially in the humidity like this, they’re very breathable, very comfortable, and definitely good if you’re going out in the golf course every single week. Let’s talk about deal number two, which came in around 4:15 to 4:30 p.m. Central time for me today, which was the Royals acquiring another starter with multiple years of control in Bailey Falter. That name probably rung a bell for a lot of you because Bailey Falter just pitched against the Royals when the Pirates were in Kansas City and he went four and two/3s, gave up three earned runs. The stuff is not overly impressive, but he throws a lot of strikes, pitches to contact, and again, the years of control and the overall numbers this year is something that’s valuable to the Royals. And Andy Rogers also reported this not too long ago as I’ve been recording this podcast that Brian Sweeney was actually his minor league pitching coach. So, he’s got some familiarity there. And it sounds like the Royals pitching department is so thrilled to get the three arms that they did today. And all three of them can be in Kansas City for a long, long time. And another part to this, because I’m not really going to get to it too much with the Mikey Strensky segment to close out our show, the Royals now can go into the winter, whether they make this push and make the postseason and make a deep run or they don’t. They can go into the off season, the winter meetings, and just focus on offense. Whereas last year was, well, we still need to get a number five starter and we need to get some more bullpen help because you lost a couple of guys. Now, the focus can strictly be on adding bats. Like, that can be above all else the main thing you target. And this trade deadline was getting out ahead of the off season a little bit. You don’t need to worry about adding pitching. You’ve got seven to eight starters that you can take into next year. And the guys that don’t make the rotation, they can pitch out of the bullpen or you can have them as AAA depth. Though, I feel these guys are probably better pencileled in for Kansas City’s bullpen or rotation next year. These are things that matter and they’re also not clay to work with. Like they’re not complete raw prospects that have never pitched in the big leagues. These are guys that are a little bit more polished, but coming over to Kansas City, you can give them something to add to their arsenal. You can work on some things analytically. Look, look at certain data. And maybe they weren’t getting that in Pittsburgh. Um, I know they definitely were getting that in San Diego because they’re one of the more analytical organizations out there. But for a guy like Bailey Falter, that’s just another arm you can count on to make starts for you. And he’s the most, again, I don’t want to say polished again because I use that for Kohic and saying he was more polished and ready to start right now than Ber, but all of them have been making starts of late and on the season serviceable numbers. These are all numbers that would have played just nicely in the number five spot for the Royals this year. But you could be getting Michael Lorenzan back though with getting a third starter today. Um maybe that means that Michael Lorenzan’s a little bit further away to returning. Cole Reagan’s might be slated for the end of August or not coming back at all. But the comforting part is you’ve got an abundance of arms to choose from where you were scrapping and just clawing your way through the schedule of who can we start today? Oh, 45year-old Rich Hill, a 40-year-old Dallas Kel, Thomas Hatch, Anhill Serpas making opener starts. You can’t be a serious playoff team in doing that every fifth day. And you can count on Noah Cameron and Micah Waka and Seth Lugo to continue what they’re doing. But this also gives them a little bit more insurance. Bailey Falter’s been just fine this year. The advanced numbers don’t jump off the page, but he throws strikes, pitches the contact, very much like Steven Kick. I would say that Ryan Bert’s got more of the power stuff. But then you look at a guy like Bayy Falter who’s made 22 starts this year. That’s important. He’s been very available for Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh’s had a good rotation this year. You know, we look at Seth Lugo in the advanced numbers, the advanced data. They don’t jump off the page, but yet every single day or every fifth day, he has a good start. He’s got a quality start. I’m not saying you’re going to expect the same stuff from Bailey Falter, but you can absolutely count on him more than what the Royals were have having to do without Cole Reagan’s and without Michael Lorenzan. Now, what you gave up like the Andrew Hoffman deal, you gave up a 4A guy. Evan Cisk just didn’t have a spot in Kansas City. And I was for the most part pretty impressed when he was up. Uh he gives you that funky arm angle. He got a lot of swing and miss down in Triple A, but talking to some of the people I know down in Omaha, he struggled of late. Uh wasn’t as effective as he was earlier in the season when the weather was a bit colder up there in Omaha. Um but Evan Cisk was a near 30-year-old reliever. So a 28-year-old, 29year-old. And then Ken Moss was actually having a pretty good year. liked him as a first base prospect, but he is a long ways away from the big league level. And the Royals have a couple of first baseman now in Kansas City that you’re expecting to be in Kansas City for the foreseeable future. So, what you gave up for a guy that has, let’s see here, it’s 2025. You got three to four years of control. I feel that’s a pretty good return for the Royals. In this MLB trade evaluator I follow uh online, it said that the F mean trade was a slight overpay by San Diego and this deal for Pittsburgh was also a slight overpay by Pittsburgh. So the Royals got the better of both of those deals at least per this evaluator. It’s not the end all beall. But to get another starter with years of control, good numbers this year, and somebody you could throw into the rotation right now, and all you gave up was a 28-year-old 4A arm and then a first baseman prospect that’s not even on your top 30 and a ways off from the big league level. That’s a good move by JJ Bakola once again. But as we were going through this day, and that’s the uh that’s the crazy part and the chaotic part about the trade deadline is 5:00 hits and you think, well, pencil’s down, trade deadline’s over, but 30 minutes after that, you still have moves that are coming in and they’re coming in at the last minute. And as we already said earlier in the podcast, Mike Yremsky was one of those deals the Royals got done at the last minute. So, as they make this trade with San Diego, as they make this trade with Pittsburgh, all of us are wondering, well, what about the bat, right? It’s nice to get these pitchers and we know it’s a strength of this team and they did need it, but we’ve been talking about bats for months now. Randall Gritic was a good pickup. Adam Frasier was a good pickup for the bench, but that doesn’t move the needle enough. I’m not saying Mike Ustrmsky does, but for the three bats they picked up, all rentals, they didn’t give up too much. And league average bats have been the theme of of a lot of podcasts that I’ve put out there over the last handful of weeks. They now have a league average bat with Randall Gritic and they have a league average bat with Mike Stressky. And as for the rotation, you got Michael Walka throwing on Friday. They can throw Burgert. They can throw Kolic. They can throw I believe I believe Falter threw on Tuesday too. So you could throw Falter on Saturday and then Sunday would be Seth Luga. You could save Noah Cameron for the Boston series and then another one of these starters for the Red Sox series as well. But you’ve got depth there and you upgraded the offense a little bit. But the most important part about this in my opinion being a team that’s 54 and 55 is that you didn’t give up much. You kept your top part of the system intact and improved this roster. Improved it for now, the final 53 games, and you improved it beyond that. And going into the off season, don’t need to worry about adding starting pitching. You’ve got that now for the next handful of years. We’ll take our final break of the show. When we come back, let’s talk about the third and final move the Royals made today with the San Francisco Giants. Mike Yremsky coming to Kansas City. Junior Marte, the team’s 20th ranked prospect, going to SF. We’ll give you our thoughts on it next on Locked On Royals. 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Right up at the the five:00 mark at the buzzer, the Royals get a deal done for another outfield bat to improve this lineup just a little bit more. And that was Mike Ystreky who went viral the other night making one of the best catches of the season at Oracle Park jumping into the net in the same way Alex Gordon jumped into the seats in Chicago all the way back in 2015. Though fortunately for your Stressky he’s protected by the net. So, it’s kind of like going to one of those old uh what are they? The you know jump house places or the the gymnastics places where they all the foam there and you’re just able to bounce right back or you can do all the tumbling into the net. It’s basically what happened to your Stressky. He jumped in and just popped back out where Alex took out about two to three White Sox fans in the stands and still held on and had to drill some some plastic seats out there at Guaranteed Raid Field. But probably had to check on the seats more than you had to check on uh Alex Gordon at all. Probably had to check on the fans more cuz getting hit by Alex Gordon at that speed. Uh that certainly wouldn’t feel too good. But Yremsky still made one heck of a play and he’s known for that. He’s been a giant his entire career, 34 years old. He was more of a late bloomer, but quickly became a fan favorite. He’s the grandson of the great Carl Ustreky. Uh there was actually a cool moment uh in Boston or he might have been a Red Sox at one point in time. I can’t remember when the Giants were at Fenway Park. He threw out his first pitch or or Carlos Shreky threw out the first pitch to him. I want to say it was just when the Giants were visiting Fenway Park because I can’t recall a time he was with Boston. But that’s aside from the point here. He’s been a Giant for the majority of his career, if not all of his career. And the numbers have been very respectable. He’s been a league average bat his entire time in San Francisco and has played good defense, has been a really good right fielder. And this year, even though you can categorize it as a bit of a down year, he has a 100 ops plus. That’s exactly league average. And that’s exactly what the Royals need. Now, you could platoon him out there with Randall Gritic. Uh because I know Randall Grick was more of a platoon bat anyway with Arizona. Yremsky was kind of the same thing in San Francisco, but he still plays a bit more because you just see more right-handers naturally. And I would imagine that Ystreky is going to play tomorrow night because it should be Kevin Gossman throwing for Toronto. Uh, but this is a bat that can run into a few. He can certainly draw a walk. He’s got an OBP that’s north of 330. That absolutely will play for the Royals lineup. And now you look at this group where it was a month and a half ago they had two bats that were above league average and that was Mikel Garcia and Bobby Wood Jr. Maybe it was two months ago because I know Vinnie got hot really on on June 1st. So if you went back to May, let’s just put it there. If you went back to May, the Royals would have Bobby Wood Jr. who still wasn’t performing at a Bobby Whit Jr. level and Mikel Garcia playing, you know, outside his mind. He’s turning in a career year and still is, but those were two of nine players in the lineup that in an OPS plus over a hundred. Nobody else really was that close. Vinnie was somewhat close, but not really. Salvi was definitely not. Michael Massie was not. Uh, you had Hunter Renfro that was not. Kyle Isabelle was not that close. He was actually above Salvador Press for a little bit. But still, we we know what that offense was like for a large portion of this season. And now what a lineup could look like with Mike Ystreky in left or in center and Randall Gritick in right or Gritic dhing and Ystreky and right. You will have six players that are league average bats or better. Bobby, Mike, Vinnie, Salvi, Gritic, and Ystreky. Six of those nine guys will be league average bats or better. And I even said in the offseason, man, you shoot for five. You shoot for five league average bats or better, and you’re going to be a fine offense. And that’s why I believe the Royals went after these two bats. They weren’t going to cost a lot, but they are going to upgrade your lineup. And the Royals, to no surprise of anybody, have had the worst outfield production of anybody in baseball. Every team out there, had not even just better, much better production. Like the Royals were dead last by a mile. 29th, which I want to say is the White Socks or maybe it’s the Pirate. It can’t be the Pirates actually because they’ve gotten some good numbers from Tommy Fam and certainly good numbers from O’Neal Cruz. I want to say it was the White Socks or the Rockies. One of those teams that’s 25 to 30 games under 500. Rockies much more than that actually around 40 to 50 games under 500. But now you’ve got two guys that you can count on to just be good enough. And for a team that’s just needing consistency, good enough works. Good enough is going to play just nicely for the Royals. And if these guys do play well down the stretch, who’s to say you can’t bring them back next year on a one-year deal? That’s sometimes the misconception with rentals. You just think, “Hey, they did their job. Goodbye. Aren’t going to go after you in the offseason.” They play well in the second half. Yeah, they might be a little bit more expensive, but you have a player that plays on a team that is trying to make a push for the postseason. I mean, the Giants have really been struggling. So your stretchy is going from a team that is actually 500 exactly one game better than the Royals but have been playing horrible baseball of late and comes to Kansas City where they’ve played really good baseball in the month of July. And above all else, really in summarizing this entire episode, going after these four players, it signals to the guys already in that clubhouse. We believe you can do it. And they didn’t give up a ton to go out and get these players. You got better for this year and for next year. It’s not to say all of these deals are going to work out. Maybe Burgett and or Burger and Kick don’t turn into the pitchers the Royals expect them to be. But it’s a different era in Kansas City. You expect these guys now to work out. When they got these two guys from San Diego and they got Falter from Pittsburgh earlier today, I thought to myself, there’s a reason they’re getting them. And we come to find out Brian Sweeney was a minor league pitching coach for Bailey Falter. And the rest of that staff is stoked to get guys like Burger and Kick as well. And because of Cole Reagan’s, because of what they’ve found in John Shriber and Steven Cruz and Lucas Ersig, what they saw in Lugo and Waka, what they’ve done with Noah Cameron, Chris Bubich, they’ve kind of earned the benefit of the doubt that when they target guys like this, there’s an absolute reason. It’s the same way it was in Tampa and still is uh for years and years. Same way it is in Cleveland. And as we know, M. Quotero and Brian Sweeney and Paul Hoover and Zack Bo, the Bows from Minnesota, they’ve got the ties to Cleveland and Tampa Bay. And then offensively, you brought in Adam Frasier, clubhouse guy, you know, can maybe help out the losing of Freddy Fine because I know he was a great clubhouse guy, but you bring in Gritic, good bat there. Adam Frasier, upgrade off the bench. And then Mike Yremsky, somebody that can start every single night for you if you needed to. And you were getting not great production from Jack Kaggleon who’s on the IIL. You were not getting good production from whoever was in left, whether that be John Rave or Nick Loftton or MJ Melendez. You just weren’t getting enough. And now think about this. you’ve got these six league average bats or better in the lineup and you bring Jack Kaggleó back into the fold, the pressure is not as much, you know, weighing on him. He gets just to come in and be a background character. You have him hitting seventh or eighth in the lineup, that’s still pretty good upside there if he’s dhing or playing right field. And then as for who they gave up for Mikey Stky, Junior Marte liked him, liked him in camp, watched him a little bit. Good stuff. I’ve seen film on him. The organization liked him, but still it’s it’s more of a dart throw. Number 20 prospect in the system. Good numbers, but he’s not like David Shields for me. He’s not like Blake Walters or Hero Wyatt or Ben Cterna or even um Churio or or I’m blanking on his last name now. Just got promoted to Lowey Columbia. the young 17-year-old uh Kendry, I believe Kendry Churio, I want to say, is is how you pronounce it, but a kid like him, even though I’m not pronouncing his name correctly, has been raved about over the last handful of weeks. Yeah. So, I was right. Kenry Churio, I I wanted to make sure I got that right before I wrapped up the show tonight. But still, making his debut in Loy Columbia, you included him in a deal, I wouldn’t be too thrilled because he’s really burst on the scene of late. And all those pitchers I just mentioned have been great of late. And you were able to acquire all these players and the most you gave up was the number 20th prospect in your system. Nobody else that you traded away was in your top 30. Now, that doesn’t mean those players can’t turn into something, but you traded a prospect who was near 30, another prospect who was near 30, another prospect who is on the other side of 25, a younger first base prospect, and then yeah, Junior Mart’s probably got the biggest upside of all of them, but you’ve been able to develop pitching over the last handful of years. Thought it was a really good deadline. JJ Bakolo continues to back up being called a transactional GM and now this current group of Royals are going to try to make a push back to October. They’re three games back of a final playoff spot. And better yet, a lot of teams that were chasing them or around them or that the Royals are chasing didn’t do much other than Seattle. Texas did add some pitching. Uh they went out there and made moves in the 3:00 and 4:00 hour. Boston did not add much. Boston fans are very upset about that. Uh Minnesota had an unbelievable fire sale. Cleveland did not acquire anything. Tampa Bay bought and sold a little bit and the Angels, they just went out there and acquired a couple of arms and one bat from New York. So it’s not that they went above and beyond. So the Royals are in a pretty good spot for now, but at least they’ve given themselves a chance to play some really good baseball in the final two months of the season. What did you make of today’s trade deadline? Let us know in the YouTube comments below. And also be sure to leave your mailbag Friday questions below on this YouTube page. But as for us, that’ll do it for another edition of Locked on Royals and the Locked On Network. I’ve been your host, Jack Johnson. Thank you for making Lockdown Royals your first listen today. For your second, check out the allnew Locked on MLB Game Night. Every game, every night, all season long. Get local analysis on a national scale and find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. tomorrow. It will be a very busy mailbag Friday, but until then, you take it easy, Kansas City.

We give our thoughts on all three trades the Royals made at the Trade Deadline! First, we discuss the deal involving Freddy Fermin and two pitchers from the Padres. Next, we react to the second trade the Royals made with the Pirates this month. Lastly, we give our thoughts on a deal that broke at the last minute with the Giants.

Host Jack Johnson goes over it all next on “Locked On Royals”!

0:00 – Padres trade
12:59 – Pirates trade
22:10 – Giants trade

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