Ex-Royals First Baseman Listed As Player Likely To Be Traded

The Kansas City Royals may have switched gears regarding their trade deadline strategy. They were expected to be sellers at the deadline but recently traded for Randal Grichuk to boost their outfield production.

In addition, the Royals also pulled Seth Lugo off the trade market and gave the veteran right-hander a two-year, $46 million contract extension. Now, the Royals may end up being buyers at the deadline, which takes place at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday.

They could still use some help offensively. A little more power wouldn't hurt.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report listed the 10 most likely players to be dealt before Thursday's deadline, and former Royal Ryan O'Hearn was No. 4 on the list.

"Through June 3, his .960 OPS ranked sixth-best among qualified hitters, behind only Aaron Judge, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Cal Raleigh and Kyle Schwarber. He was also batting .335, good for fourth-best in the majors. And he was doing it for an Orioles team languishing 13 games below .500," Miller wrote.

O'Hearn has cooled off a little bit since being named an All-Star, but he's still hitting .284/.375/.452 with 12 home runs, 40 RBI, a 2.0 WAR and an .827 OPS. Perhaps if the Royals are still looking to upgrade their offense, O'Hearn could be somebody they target to boost their lineup.

O'Hearn was with the Royals from 2018-22 and joined the Orioles in 2023. He hit .262/.353/.597 with 12 homers, 30 RBI and a .950 OPS in his first season in Kansas City.

We'll see if the Royals end up being one of the teams interested in him.

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