Former World Series Champion Lorenzo Cain still is one of the best outfielders in baseball. Despite his injuries last season, Cain can still contribute to a championship push.
The former 2015 all-star and third place MVP may be on the trade block heading into the winter meetings. Despite his contributions when healthy, the Kansas City Royals may be looking to rebuild instead of resupply. Cain, who is only locked down for this next season, may be the Royals first go to trade. Because of his great 2014-15, and productive time in 2016, Cain still has value to a team making a World Series push. Cain will be a one-year rental outfielder, so wherever he goes must be ready to contend for the World Series in 2017.
Despite only playing in 103 games last season, Cain still put together respectable numbers. Cain slugged 9 home runs and 56 runs batted in with a .287 batting average. Stealing 14 bases, Cain scored a total of 56 runs in 434 plate appearances. Cain still proved to be one of the biggest contributors for the Kansas City Royals. In games that Cain played, the Royals went 58-45, in games without Cain the Royals went 23-36. Despite his numbers take a very slight dive in 2016, Cain still proves to be a factor that helps win ball games.
This is evident by Cain’s Wins Above Replacement. In 2016, Cain posted a 2.4 WAR, with a full season of play at the same pace Cain would have posted a 3.8 WAR, tying for sixth best out of center fielders. While this isn’t the same Lorenzo Cain as two or three years ago, he is still providing towards wins. Insert him into a line-up that is ready to win a World Series and we will see his numbers improve to what they once were. With that being said, here are potential trade partners to acquire Lorenzo Cain.