Up-and-Down Week For Royals Punctuated By a Half-Hearted Trade Deadline
If the Royals have a theme for the season, it's inconsistency, and last week was no different. On the field, they took three of four from the division-leading White Sox before being swept in a three-game series in Toronto. Off the field, they offered a half-hearted effort during one of the most active trade deadlines in recent memory.
The biggest news of the week came when the Royals traded long-time Royal Danny Duffy to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later. Duffy, who has spent his entire career in the Royals organization, waived his 10-5 rights to accept a trade to the Dodgers, returning to his home state of California for the next couple of months at least. While Duffy has, when healthy, been the best starter for the Royals this season, the Dodgers have indicated that they'll use Duffy as a multi-inning reliever once he returns from the injured list.
In return, the Royals will get a player they have another couple of months to scout. It's unclear who that player will be, but the Royals followed the lead of many teams this season and sent some money to the Dodgers as well with the intention of securing a more valuable prospect. The Dodgers have a strong system with enough depth to make significant trades last week.
The only other trade the Royals executed last week involved sending veteran power hitter Jorge Soler to the Atlanta Braves for 23-year-old, right-handed pitching prospect Kasey Kalich. Soler has struggled for most of the season but got hot in the last couple of weeks giving himself enough trade value for the Royals to move him. Kalich, a relief prospect, made 20 relief appearances for the Rome Braves, Atlanta's High-A affiliate, before being traded this week. In those 20 appearances, he threw 30.1 innings with a 3.26 ERA, 35 strikeouts, and 17 walks.
Amidst all the trade deadline hoopla, the Royals decided to play some baseball, as well, and in their first series last week, it was good baseball. On the back of consistent starting pitching, including a strong outing from Carlos Hernandez, the Royals took three of four from the AL Central-leading White Sox. Things turned south when the boys in blue headed north for the first series in Toronto since 2019. The Royals scored only five runs in those three games and were swept, despite more consistent outings from the rotation.
On the Farm
How are the Royals keeping M.J. Melendez in Northwest Arkansas at this point? He hit two more home runs this week, bringing his season total to 25, which leads all of minor league baseball.
Another Royals farmhand experiencing a power surge is shortstop prospect Nick Loftin. After struggling mightily to start the season, he's lifted his season line to .268/.337/.448 thanks to an explosion of offensive output lately that included a 5-6 night on Sunday in which he completed the cycle by hitting a walk-off home run to win a 14-12 shootout against South Bend.
Marcus Meade is a contributor to Inside the Royals and a writer of many genres and forms from fiction to scholarship to baseball blogs. He previously wrote for Baseball Prospectus and Kings of Kauffman and also currently writes (occasionally) for Royals Farm Report. He is the host of the Royals Weekly podcast with his brother, Mike. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook @RoyalsWeekly.