3 Texas Rangers trade proposals with the Kansas City Royals

As the Texas Rangers continue to look for ways to advance out of their mild rebuild, we’ll continue to explore what possible trades with other teams could look like.

With the free-agent market having been well picked through and 2 qualifying offer recipients already signed, trades are inevitable. Some of these trades will involve the backlog of middle infielders the Texas Rangers have accumulated.

As Jamey Newberg explains, some of these middle infielders COULD be moved to other positions. Others are likely trade fodder. And no unfortunately we cannot approach a team with the “here’s a bunch of bad/lower level players, can we get a good player?” question. Trades don’t work like that. Some of the fan-favorite youth will eventually be sent away in the name of improving the team.

One team that the Texas Rangers haven’t had too many exchanges with could become a trade partner. The Kansas City Royals fancy themselves to be on the brink of exiting their own rebuild. Texas has spent an exuberant amount of money to get back into relevance. The Royals, while not exactly Tampa Bay or Oakland, aren’t known for a high payroll so they tend to rely on a young core.

That core is getting close with the likes of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., first baseman Nick Pratto, starting pitcher Asa Lacy, and catcher MJ Melendez all a year or two from the major leagues. Their big league roster already has Nicky Lopez at second base and stalwart Salvador Perez manning the primary catcher role. The Royals seem to need answers for the outfield, starting pitching, and bullpen (as everybody) before they’re ready to stake claim to a playoff spot.

Let’s see how a few potential trades could happen between these American League teams.

3 Texas Rangers trades with the Kansas City Royals

No, this is not exactly an earth-shattering trade of megastars that’s going to excite the fanbase. What this is a realistic, if not favorable trade for the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers could have Nick try his hand in the outfield and battle with the likes of Eli White, Leody Taveras, Zach Reks, Willie Calhoun, and any minor league call ups. He could stay on as infield depth with Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Andy Ibanez, Yonny Hernandez, or the half dozen infield prospects knocking on the door. OR, the Rangers could make the rational move and…move him…to another team.

Nick Solak, for all his underperforming at the plate, is still relatively liked amongst the Rangers fan base. This could be attributed to his arrival being the signal that they were moving on from Odor. Perhaps it was his once lofty prospect rank, as Fangraphs had him #93 overall and 9th in the Tampa Bay Rays system.

Regardless, Solak is the most expendable infielder for the Texas Rangers. He showed promise with a big start to the season hitting .293 with 7 home runs in April but tailed off hitting just .196 in the following 65 games. After a demotion to AAA, where he tore it up, he was brought back looking rejuvenated with an 11 game hit streak. Though, once again he came back down to earth hitting .229 in September. Now, with second base locked up by Marcus Semien for at least a few years, and a plethora of infield options in the minors, Solak’s spot on the team is in question.

So the Texas Rangers ship him off to Kansas City. As mentioned before Nicky Lopez is currently there. HE has a breakout year hitting .300 but that seemed to come out of nowhere and the Royals brass may not put their faith that it’s here to stay. Adalberto Mondesi could theoretically slide over to make room for Bobby Witt but Mondesi has only played over 75 games ONCE. Plus he only has team control till the end of ’23, where they’ll likely let him walk. So they turn to a once-promising prospect, who’s fallen from grace but shown flashes of what could be.

In return, the Rangers are getting a steal in the form of Alec Marsh and Tyler Gentry. Marsh was the 70th pick in 2019. He struggled with “arm soreness” limiting his 2021 performance to 25.1 innings posting a 4.97 ERA in AA. Not the showing of promise but once healthy he features a 60-grade fastball and a 60-grade curveball according to MLB Pipeline. If he can stay healthy and work on his control, he has the makings of a starter. Tyler Gentry meanwhile is the Royals 3rd round draft selection in 2020. He made his high A appearance batting .259 with a .844 OPS and 7 home runs in 44 games. He’s a well-rounded player with no obvious shortcomings. He needs to maintain a solid offensive profile though as no one trait stands out either.

3 Texas Rangers trades with the Kansas City Royals

What’s a speculative Kansas City Royals trade proposal without their most speculated player!

That player is Whit Merrifield.

A Royals fan favorite, a personal favorite, and a baseball-playing machine, Merrifield seems to be available for trade for the first time. Consider this a warning label for Royals fans…I’m constructing trade for his actual baseball value. He is not Mike Trout or even a top 10, 20, 30….(I’ll spare you) player. In fact, Bleacher Report had him outside their top 100 players of 2021. Merrifield, by conventional measures, has declined for three consecutive years now.

He has gone from hitting .302 with 16 home runs in 2019 to .277 with 10 home runs in 2021. At age 33, His value has taken a dive with that performance but he is still a very valuable trade piece. If he is truly available, there will be a dozen teams in the running for him and the price will still be high.

This is still quite a haul at first glance, but it could be worth it.

Merrifield is incredibly durable and capable. He has played EVERY game the past 3 years. He also showed he’s still a base-stealing threat as he lead the league with 40 stolen bases. Stolen bases weren’t the only category he lead the league in as he lead the way with 42 doubles. Remember that tidbit about declining by conventional standards? Well, that’s because when looking at his exit velocity, Hard hit%, Barrel% and Pull% were all in line with career averages.

Instead, the only correlating stat to decline with is conventional numbers is his launch angle, which has gone from 16.9 degrees in 2018 to 14.1 in 2021. He is still very much a potent offensive threat and a capable outfield defender. His presence in the clubhouse to go with Semiens natural leadership would be fantastic for the culture. Let’s not forget that he is also under contract for $2.75 million in ’22 and $6.5 million in ’23 making him even more affordable than long coveted free agent Seiya Suzuki.

Whereas Rangers fans may think we’re giving up too much, Royals fans probably want more. Ronny Henriquez COULD be added to make the deal more enticing, but I believe his current value is lower than where it should be so the Rangers are better off holding onto him.  Merrifield isn’t going to…merit…a top 5 prospect though. Wendzel is about as close to a top 10 prospect as they’ll get to. He fits their need for a young third-base prospect who could come up with their other young players. Taken in the same first round as Josh Jung after sharing Big 12 player of the year honors with him, he hasn’t quite had the same level of success. He has shown promise in 2021 that he could be more than just a 3B prospect and that the power is still there.

Glenn Otto Fit’s the Royals needs as a controllable and projectable starting pitcher. No, he isn’t their next Zack Greinke but he can hold down the back of their rotation for the next 6 years. Hauver meanwhile is a 2B/OF much the same as Merrifield. He has a few more years of development left seeing as he just scratched the surface of High A ball last year. He is a more polished bat though as long as he can manage the strike zone.

Regardless of the result, a Whit Merrifield deal will always have some questions. Some will worry that his decline will continue and he wouldn’t be worth re-signing at the end of ’23. I tend to be more optimistic towards him and could see him fitting in well in both the clubhouse and the field. Royals fans will be unhappy they didn’t net a top 100 player or of that caliber but unfortunately for them, that ship has sailed.