Kansas City Royals: Five trade destinations for Wade Davis

If the Kansas City Royals are so inclined to deal their All-Star closer, where could he end up?

The Kansas City Royals are going to be heading towards a transition. As I talked about earlier this month, there are going to be some payroll restrictions for the club after going all in this year and falling short of the playoffs as they looked to win their third straight AL pennant and second straight championship.

As Jon Heyman reported yesterday on Today’s Knuckleball, teams are already reaching out to the Royals about what it would take to pry Wade Davis away from the club. Davis has yet to have his $10 million option picked up by the club, but it’s going to happen.

Davis will be a free agent after next season as will Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas. That’s a gigantic part of the core of the club.

The Royals do also have Kelvin Herrera and Joakim Soria to close out games next season. They could also use young lefties Matt Strahm and Brian Flynn to help there too as they did this past season.

The free agent market this off-season is going to be strong with relievers. Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon will all be free agents. More and more teams will look to shore up their bullpen as this post-season may have amplified its impact even more.

So where could Davis end up if the Royals decide to ship him out? Here are five potential destinations for the right-hander.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers could be a destination whether they keep Kenley Jansen or not. If Jansen leaves and they fail to sign Melancon or Chapman, they are going to need a closer. Yes, the Dodgers had the best bullpen ERA this year and the most strikeouts of any bullpen in baseball.

This is also the same Dodger club that almost had Chapman AND Jansen on the same team this past year. Once Chapman’s domestic violence allegations came out, they decided to pass on him. They aren’t afraid to have multiple shut-down game-ending relievers on the team.

A combination of any of those three free agents and Davis would be lethal during the regular season and game-changing come playoff time.

Since 2014, the numbers for Davis and Jansen aren’t that far off. Jansen has pitched just four more innings. Jansen has a WHIP of 0.89, while Davis has a 0.87. Jansen has a 2.32 ERA while Davis has a 1.18.

The Dodgers are going to need late game help, whether it’s paying a ton for a free agent, using their war chest of minor league assets to acquire one, or both. Davis is a guy who can close or setup like he did for Greg Holland a few seasons ago which makes him much more attractive to all sorts of clubs.

San Francisco Giants

If there is ANY club that could use a game-changer at the end of games, it is certainly the San Francisco Giants. We learned that by watching them down the season’s final two months and they drove home that point during the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NLDS vs the Cubs as Bruce Bochy used a conga line of relievers to no avail.

Between Hunter Strickland, Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, Derek Law and deadline acquisition Will Smith, no one could get the job done. The key to the Giants’ even year run earlier this decade wasn’t all about Madison Bumgarner. It was the fact that club could turn to guys like Jeremy Affeldt and Romo and know that they would get the job done.

The Giants don’t have the prospects that the Dodgers do, but Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans have never been afraid to pull the trigger on a big deal if it will help the club. Adding someone like Davis would certainly be a big help as the Giants try to do something they haven’t done since 1933. Win a World Series title in an odd numbered season.

Washington Nationals

Like the Dodgers, the Nationals closer is a pending free agent. After finally getting rid of the disaster that was Jonathan Papelbon, the Nats made a deal before the deadline for Mark Melancon. All he did was save 17 games, have a sub 2.00 ERA and have an ERA+ of 232 (league average is 100).

If the Nationals are going to finally get over the hump, they are still going to need a guy at the end of games that they can totally count on.

A lot of their core will be back next year. Guys like Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg aren’t going anywhere. Trea Turner is going to be with the team for a full season. Top prospect Lucas Giolito may be there for a full season as well. This is a team that should be fighting for a playoff spot next year. The thing that could hold them back is their end of game options, as it has in years past. They can’t afford to let that happen again.

Getting Davis would put those fears to rest. He’s a guy who’s been there and done that, and if the Nats can’t keep Melancon, Davis would be a nice consolation prize.

New York Yankees

After dealing Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller at the trade deadline, the Yankees were using Dellin Betances as closer. Betances’ issues with holding runners, plus what seemed like fatigue, put a halt to the great run that the team had after becoming deadline sellers.

If the Yankees fail to land one of the free agent closers either due to being outbid or austerity, they could turn their attention to landing Davis.  Davis, Betances, and Tyler Clippard, while not No Runs DMC, would still be an effective late game troika.

The Yankees have the prospects to get the deal done, plus, if they were to not be in playoff contention like in 2016, they could flip Davis in order to recoup some of that prospect collateral they lost in order to acquire him.

The Yankees will be in an interesting position this off-season with some cash to use along with assets at their disposal to get whatever they want. Could they use some of them to get Davis? It’s entirely possible.