This team will trade Matt Stairs before they trade Salvador Perez, and Matt Stairs hasn’t played for the Royals in 12 years.

The ship has sailed on trading Duffy anytime soon after this abortion of a season from him. The time to trade him was last offseason. He's going to have to pull his head out of his ass to have any value next trade deadline or in the following offseason. As it is he's way too inconsistent and unpredictable to fetch much at his salary.

It's pretty simple. He'll be around 34 and a free agent by the time we're competitive again. Oh, and he's blocking Nicky Lopez. Rentals get almost nothing in return nowadays, so the only way to get anything significant in a trade is to trade someone affordable with remaining team control. Just about every other team in the league would trade such a player if they were 4-5 years away from competing. Failing to do so would be like trying to reinvent the wheel. Without significant trades we are relying on building the future solely through the draft. The last worthwhile international signing was probably Mondesi in 2011. Most of our other IFA signings have been failures, and we've done almost nothing the last 3 years after blowing our load on Matias. So again I question, how are we building a winning team faster than the last 7-8 year rebuild without making significant trades?

The only change has been the return for rentals. Players with remaining control are still fetching decent returns.

Kendrys set Jays record 7 straight with a Hr

1 off MLB record by Mattingly, Griffey, Long

Obviously control matters. Still doesn't bring back what it used to. See Dee Brown trade.

This is what I'm talking about.

If you really truly believe what you're writing, then they really are doing it all wrong. They might as well trade everyone, including the top prospects in the minors. Being 7-8 years away literally means that the next core group of guys like Lee, Lopez, Mondesi, Pratto, are all pretty much going to be on the way out by then. You are arguing about Whit, but really what you are arguing with this is that they should trade anything of value in the system to build a core of players who will arrive to the majors somewhere around 2024.

Keep Salvy, Whitley, Mondesi...strength up the middle is key. Build around them. Find a CFer. Develop pitching.

Dee Brown? Man, he's old, was never any good, and hasn't played in a decade.

Dee Gordon? He had 97 OPS+ last year (and a 77 OPS+ the prior) before being traded. Also, his contract guaranteed him $37 million over the three remaining years.

Whit would fetch more...

:)

LMAO My bad.

I was trying to find a comparison to what would be a Whit trade. Gordon was the best I could think of even given the significant differences.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On Royals prospect Daniel Lynch: “We’d see him pitch in college (and he’d be) 91 to 93 mph. He’s had nights (in pro ball) where he’s been 95 to 97 (mph) ... if he was throwing this way in May, he would have never gotten to the 18th pick.” <a href="https://t.co/nmiHqlExZa">https://t.co/nmiHqlExZa</a></p>&mdash; Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) <a href="https://twitter.com/rustindodd/status/1034090493444071424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Royals won a series against a playoff contender for the first time in three months. Ryan O’Hearn is hitting homers. Brad Keller is pitching well. What young players could be next in September? <a href="https://t.co/t0RGacuSps">https://t.co/t0RGacuSps</a></p>&mdash; Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) <a href="https://twitter.com/rustindodd/status/1034080619540688896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Wasnt Lynch considered a money saving pick?

Lynch wasn’t a pure money pick. He wasn’t an overslot guy, but several places had him as a comp round guy.

Re: Merrifield and Soler, neither one has to be move for a deal that isn’t prime. They can hold out a little on both and make sure they get great value.

Soler is arb eligible in 2020 at best (for him), which means they still control him through 2022 or 2023. The deal he signed with the Cubs expires in 2020, but that doesn’t negate the years of team control or service rules.

They should trade them if they get the right type of return. If they don’t, hold them a while longer and wait for the right situation to pop up in front of you.

Also: the Royals just signed another international FA, Dutch kid named Darryl Collins and playing in Curaçao.

They also announced the signing of a South Korean teenager who was clocked / supposedly - at 95 mph.

They’ve made some outside-the-box moves in IFA. Like seeing the flexibility of thought!