The Kansas City Royals are reportedly interested in signing Luke Heimlich. This is a nightmare they should not want any part of.
There are certain realities that teams like the Kansas City Royals must face. They are never going to be at the same budgetary level as teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, or Dodgers. The Royals are never going to be considered the favorites to sign the top free agents in the market. Fan favorites will be allowed to leave due to budgetary concerns. It is a simple reality that comes with being a Royals fan.
Naturally, this means that teams like the Royals need to find talent in places that other teams may not otherwise look. The Rays, for example, are infamous in overlooking obvious character issues in their quest to find talent. Just look that some of the players that have gone through that organization – Matt Bush, Brandon Martin, Josh Lueke, and Elijah Dukes, amongst others, have had quite the checkered past.
And now, the Royals are seemingly heading in that same direction. Desperate to find any viable talent whatsoever, they have reportedly begun to consider Oregon pitcher Luke Heimlich. The Royals have begun vetting Heimlich, gathering information to determine whether or not such a signing would be in the Royals best interests.
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In terms of pure talent, there is no question that Heimlich would dramatically improve the Royals farm system. He was considered to be a potential first round talent, a possible front of the rotation arm for any team that would be interested in bringing him on board.
However, Heimlich is not the average first round talent. To say that he has a checkered past would be a candidate for the understatement of the year, as Heimlich was convicted of molesting his then six year old niece when he was 15. Even though this happened when he was a minor, and should not have become a part of the public record, that stain will forever be a part of Heimlich’s legacy, regardless of where his baseball career takes him.
Quite simply, Heimlich is a public relations disaster. For as much as he may claim that he only entered a guilty plea to ease his family’s suffering and that he did nothing of the sort, the fact of the matter is that he said he was guilty. That alone, despite those protestations, have made Heimlich a pariah, someone that no fan base should embrace.
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Yes, Luke Heimlich could help the Kansas City Royals on the diamond in the future. But for a team that has prided itself on chemistry, togetherness, and a creating a family atmosphere, bringing Heimlich on board would be an affront to those values. No matter the talent, he is not worth the effort.