The Royals have lost six in a row, all at home, and their offensive woes have continued to be front and center. The team averaged less than two runs-per-game in their winless homestand and only the Pirates have scored fewer runs-per-game among all baseball teams this year.
Still, the Royals sit just three games back of a playoff spot and the next month will be critical for them to stop the bleeding and turn things around. That will require the offense to improve, and according to Jim Bowden at The Athletic, the Royals are looking at the trade market for corner outfielders.
The Royals are shopping for corner outfield help and realize they’ll probably have to trade one of their top catching prospects — Blake Mitchell, Carter Jensen or Ramon Ramirez — to make it happen.
Royals left-fielders have hit .231/.297/.325 with a wRC+ of 71, the fifth-worst in baseball. The right fielders have been worse – .194/.250/.256 with a wRC+ of 39, dead-last in baseball. Promoting outfielders like Drew Waters and John Rave has improved the situation slightly, but the lineup still needs an impact bat. The Royals do have good catching depth, although Mitchell has missed the entire season with a wrist injury. Jensen is hitting .295/.364/.410 with five home runs in 62 games for Double-A Northwest Arkansas, but may be seen as a catcher for the future to replace Salvador Perez eventually. The 20-year-old Ramirez is a bit further away, hitting .252/.366/.472 with nine home runs in 44 games for Low-A Columbia.
What outfielders could be available? Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn could be hot targets, although both are free agents at the end of the season. The Angels could make outfielder Taylor Ward available, although Bowden says they aren’t sellers yet. He also writes that although the Braves, Red Sox and Rangers aren’t in contention, they likely won’t be sellers either.
One team that could make their outfielders available is the Miami Marlins.
However, the Marlins will listen to inquiries on their corner outfielders this summer since teams like the Padres and Royals might overpay for Kyle Stowers or Jesús Sánchez.
Stowers is a 27-year-old left fielder hitting .276/.345/.462 with 10 home runs in 65 games and has several controllable years left. Sánchez is also 27 and is hitting .257/.332/.408 with six home runs and seven steals in 50 games, with three years of club control remaining. The Marlins also have 29-year-old Dane Myers, who has exploded this season to hit .333/.377/.481 with four home runs in 44 games in his first full season in the big leagues.
A trade for one of these outfielders would help the Royals improve not just this year but for the next few seasons, although the price is higher for players with many years of control left. Last summer the Royals traded Mason Barnett, Will Klein, and Jason Dickey to the Athletics for reliever Lucas Erceg, knowing they could retain his services for several years.