The Kansas City Royals season has been a disaster and may already have been over not long after MLB’s Opening Day of the 2023 regular season, but the Royals may be looking to be winners on the trade market this summer.
While the Royals don’t boast a ton of desirable talent, they do have veteran reliever Aroldis Chapman, who has managed to get back on track a bit following his putrid last few seasons with the New York Yankees where he seemed to lose control of his dominating fastball.
Chapman, 35, currently has a 2.95 ERA, his lowest since 2019, and Chapman certainly gets more spin and juice on his pitches. Thus far this season, Chapman has an average exit velocity of just 84.2 miles per hour and a strikeout percentage of 38.5 percent.
With a $4 million salary this season, Chapman becomes an attractive asset for the Royals to deal in the coming weeks.
However, the Royals have given interested teams two options if they wish to acquire Chapman in a trade, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
Per the report, Option 1 = “Part with a better prospect package to gain control of Chapman for nearly four months of the regular season, rather than the two months a team would get by acquiring him at the trade Aug. 1 deadline.” This would allow the Royals to continue to build around their young core that centers on Vinnie Pasquantino and Bobby Witt Jr..
Option 2 – “Accept Chapman as part of a package with another Royals player, enabling Kansas City to shed payroll while ensuring a better return in a trade.”
The Royals have some big contracts that they would rather unload, such as Salvador Perez and Jordan Lyles, both of whom are big contributors to their lineup.
As for the teams that would be interested – it wouldn’t be crazy to see the Yankees kick the tires on Chapman again, especially since they do not have a clear closer, but would they be willing to go back to that well once again, especially given Chapman’s exit and his playoff homerun highlight reels the last few seasons?
Nonetheless, expect Chapman to be a big name, once again, as the MLB trade deadline draws closer.
