Kansas City Royals Rumors: CarGo a fit in left field?
The Kansas City Royals started the 2015 season with strong hopes for repeating as American League champions. Currently with the best record in the AL and atop the Central division, the Royals have the Minnesota Twins nipping at their heels and to a lesser extent, the usually explosive Detroit Tigers.
Miguel Cabrera has been a big loss to the Tigers’ offense, but they’re still set in the outfield and with Victor Martinez at designated hitter. The Royals, however, could use a boost to their outfield in the second half.
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Well rounded in the rotation and bullpen, a sturdy lineup took a hit July 9 when Alex Gordon was carted off the field with a groin injury. He’s expected to be out well into September, with Jarrod Dyson prospectively filling in until then. Dyson is not an everyday player. He possesses great speed and thus range in left field, but his bat is replacement level.
Gordon has been a four-time Gold Glove winner in left for the Royals. After Lorenzo Cain, he has the highest WAR of any Kansas City player at a 2.6 mark. His previous full three seasons produced an average line of .276-18-76 at the dish for KC. The 30-year-old Dyson would be hard pressed to ever approach that kind of production if he saw 500 at-bats in a year.
Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post believes that Carlos Gonzalez of Colorado would be an ideal holdover for the Royals in left field while Gordon is banged up, stating “I do think it’s very possible the Rockies will trade Gonzalez. He’s playing well again, and a contender such as the Kansas City Royals could use his power and fielding ability.”
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Saunders may have a point. Gordon’s loss will be exposed in the coming weeks with a platoon of Dyson and Paulo Orlando. With Cain being the only active outfielder Kansas City has playing at an All-Star level, a trade would absolutely fix that predicament.
Alex Rios is struggling and there is a mutual option on his contract for 2016. If the Royals traded for CarGo, they could terminate the potential $12.5 million owed to Rios in 2016. Plus in Gonzalez, they would have an All-Star caliber outfielder signed through 2017 to man right field when a healthy Gordon returns to the lineup.
The pitching hungry Rockies would likely ask for arms in a deal with KC, so LHP Sean Manaea, RHP Kyle Zimmer and/or LHP Brandon Finnegan could be some of the names targeted by a team like Colorado.
The Oakland Athletics showed what an anemic second half can do to playoff aspirations in 2014. With Gordon set to miss a majority of the Royals’ second half in 2015, it would be in their best interest to secure themselves a Carlos Gonzalez type who can not only fill in for Gordon now, but can replace Rios later in 2015 and beyond.
CarGo was off to a slow start in the early goings, but has since slashed .306/.336/.597 since June 2, raising his season batting average over 40 full points. During that stretch, Gonzalez posted 11 multi-hit games and has went deep nine times while driving in 22 runs.