Kansas City Royals: Could Mike Moustakas be the Most Sought After Player on the Trade Market?
By Jason Evans
If the Kansas City Royals decide to become sellers this season, their most sought after trade asset might be third baseman Mike Moustakas.
The Kansas City Royals find themselves just 5.5 games out of the lead in the AL Central and in fourth place. They’re four games out of a wild card spot, however, they would have to climb over eight teams in order to get to one of the two wild card spots.
Once the draft concludes this week (after it begins today and we’ll have full coverage o nthe homepage) you’ll start to hear more and more trade rumblings. With all of the pending free agents the Kansas City Royals have and considering their place in the standings, they have to at least start thinking about selling some of their pending free agents and getting some prospects to build back up again.
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While you can make the argument that Jason Vargas and Lorenzo Cain will be highly sought after if made available, their biggest trade asset might be third baseman Mike Moustakas.
Among third baseman, Moustakas is tied for third in homers with 15, while his .528 slugging percentage is tied for sixth. He is tied for tenth in RBI with Evan Longoria at 34.
Why could he be so highly sought after? Well, his pending free agency helps, but so does the fact that a few contending teams could use some help at the hot corner.
The Boston Red Sox are in contention and they could certainly use his services. Pablo Sandoval is a disaster over there and the Sox do not have anyone with double digit homers.
If the Red Sox are in for him, you can certainly make the case the New York Yankees could use him. The Yankees have a powerful lineup, but after a hot April, Chase Headley has not produced since. They may also want to give top prospect Gleyber Torres more time to develop in AAA. Can you imagine the left-handed pop of Moustakas toward the bottom of that Yankee lineup that already has Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Starlin Castro and Matt Holliday?
On the National League side, if the New York Mets starting pitching staff can stay healthy and they can start chipping away at their own wild card deficit, they could certainly use an upgrade at third. David Wright isn’t walking through that door and Jose Reyes has been a mess there. Wilmer Flores has been hot offensively of late, but his defense leaves a bit to be desired.
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Teams could use offense between now and trade deadline and you never know who might get back into the race and who might get injured. Moustakas could be a nice trade asset for the Kansas City Royals. Besides, who’s to say they can’t trade him then bring him back as a free agent in the off-season? It worked for the Yankees with Aroldis Chapman. Look for a lot of Moustakas trade rumors between now and the trade deadline.