Breaths of hope for the future - Lynch pitching like that. Bubic recently pitching well. Nicky Lopez looking like he might have brought his minor league game to the big leagues. Salvy being so strong. Santana and Andrew working out. Witt and Pratto continuing to look good in Omaha. In the end, we need enough good things to happen to become competitive and beyond. This was at least a week where the hope did not seem completely misplaced, and I am thankful for that.
Okay, in terms of a little dreaming leading up the the trade deadline this Friday, the Mariners want Whit and have the second or third best farm system - so what would a bit of an overpay look like - like when we gave us Sean Menea for Zobrist - do they have an extra great center fielder prospect who could join Witt and Pratto at Omaha - or some other piece that could nicely fill a hole on our next championship team? And it seems a no-brainer that we trade Duffy to one of the two or three West Coast teams (Giants and Dodgers) who want him injured (after sitting him down and telling him that we want him back, but that he can help us and him "bury a Royal" self by adding to our team with the trade - and what could we expect to get for him? California dreaming . . .
The Mariners have Taylor Trammell who has been pretty terrible in the big leagues, but a lot of people really like. He has very loud tools, but I've never really been a huge fan of him. They have a lot of nice pieces, but the Adam Frazier trade set the Merrifield market unless a team gets truly desperate, which maybe the Mariners are. I don't know.
As for Duffy, I wrote last week that they could be looking at someone around a team's 6-10 range in their prospect rankings, but that was before the injury. Without knowing when he'll pitch again, I have no clue what the market would be. If a team thinks he can be back in September, maybe someone in the 11-15 range of a team's prospects? But I really don't know.
With the Padres trying to move Hosmer now that they are up against the luxury tax, do you see a scenario that fits the Royals bringing in Hosmer? I'm not advocating for Hosmer the player, essentially want to see if there's a scenario where the Royals get some decent prospects back in a salary dump.
I would never say never with Dayton Moore and Hosmer, but I think Pratto's emergence makes it so that they're not going to take on a contract they REALLY don't need. I could have absolutely seen it if Pratto had continued to struggle this year since the Royals really don't have much in the way of first base for the future and Hosmer is "only" $15 million per for the rest of his deal, but I don't think it'll happen now. And that's even if they'd include one of the top guys just to get out from under the deal.
Breaths of hope for the future - Lynch pitching like that. Bubic recently pitching well. Nicky Lopez looking like he might have brought his minor league game to the big leagues. Salvy being so strong. Santana and Andrew working out. Witt and Pratto continuing to look good in Omaha. In the end, we need enough good things to happen to become competitive and beyond. This was at least a week where the hope did not seem completely misplaced, and I am thankful for that.
Definitely an encouraging weekend. Also sort of helped that it was against a team that has seemed like its rebuild has surpassed the Royals' rebuild.
Okay, in terms of a little dreaming leading up the the trade deadline this Friday, the Mariners want Whit and have the second or third best farm system - so what would a bit of an overpay look like - like when we gave us Sean Menea for Zobrist - do they have an extra great center fielder prospect who could join Witt and Pratto at Omaha - or some other piece that could nicely fill a hole on our next championship team? And it seems a no-brainer that we trade Duffy to one of the two or three West Coast teams (Giants and Dodgers) who want him injured (after sitting him down and telling him that we want him back, but that he can help us and him "bury a Royal" self by adding to our team with the trade - and what could we expect to get for him? California dreaming . . .
The Mariners have Taylor Trammell who has been pretty terrible in the big leagues, but a lot of people really like. He has very loud tools, but I've never really been a huge fan of him. They have a lot of nice pieces, but the Adam Frazier trade set the Merrifield market unless a team gets truly desperate, which maybe the Mariners are. I don't know.
As for Duffy, I wrote last week that they could be looking at someone around a team's 6-10 range in their prospect rankings, but that was before the injury. Without knowing when he'll pitch again, I have no clue what the market would be. If a team thinks he can be back in September, maybe someone in the 11-15 range of a team's prospects? But I really don't know.
With the Padres trying to move Hosmer now that they are up against the luxury tax, do you see a scenario that fits the Royals bringing in Hosmer? I'm not advocating for Hosmer the player, essentially want to see if there's a scenario where the Royals get some decent prospects back in a salary dump.
I would never say never with Dayton Moore and Hosmer, but I think Pratto's emergence makes it so that they're not going to take on a contract they REALLY don't need. I could have absolutely seen it if Pratto had continued to struggle this year since the Royals really don't have much in the way of first base for the future and Hosmer is "only" $15 million per for the rest of his deal, but I don't think it'll happen now. And that's even if they'd include one of the top guys just to get out from under the deal.