Omar Infante being shopped by Kansas City Royals
Coming off an American League pennant, the Kansas City Royals are now making second baseman Omar Infante available in trade – despite his solid contributions to the team’s deep postseason run a year ago.
Sources: #Royals making Infante available.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 9, 2014
Last December, Kansas City inked the former Detroit Tigers infielder to a four-year deal worth just over $30 million. He clearly took a step backward last season with the Royals from a dominant 2013 campaign in the Motor City where he hit 10 long balls to go along with a .345 OBP. Last year, he batted a mere .252/.295/.337 – and his defense also declined.
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Some of the top free agent second basemen include Stephen Drew, Jed Lowrie, Gordon Beckham and Daniel Descalso. At his best, Infante is one of the premier offensive threats at his position, although which version of his output – 2013 or 2014 – a team would get in a potential deal remains to be seen.
Infante broke onto the scene back in 2002 with Detroit, spending several years with the Tigers before joining the Atlanta Braves prior to the 2008 season. A few years later, he was traded again – this time to the then-Florida Marlins. He re-joined Detroit for a couple years before heading to the Royals prior to last season. So, needless to say, he’s familiar with a change of scenery.
So far this season, the Royals have been deathly quiet this offseason, re-signing Luke Hochevar, while losing James Shields and Billy Butler to free agency, while the Indians added Brandon Moss in a trade, while the White Sox have been the storyline of the Winter Meetings, trading for Jeff Samardzija and signing David Robertson after inking Zach Duke and Adam LaRoche earlier in the offseason.
Could trading Omar Infante be the first move for Royals’ GM Dayton Moore during the Winter Meetings?