Will Royals Fall Out Of Contention, Trade $5.5 Million Veteran Starter?

Perhaps Apr. 22 is a little early to start throwing the "s" word around, but the Kansas City Royals are playing like a team in danger of becoming trade deadline sellers.

The Royals are 9-14, having broken their six-game losing streak with a win on Sunday. And they're about to begin a three-game set with the Colorado Rockies, the worst team in Major League Baseball, so perhaps they'll be within spitting distance of .500 by the end of the week.

There's no way to sugarcoat it, though: The Royals' offense has been abysmal. They're not a team that needs a top-10 offense to win, per se, but if they're consistently in the bottom five all season, they're not going to find themselves close to a playoff spot.

Who might the Royals sell off, though, in a doomsday scenario where they find themselves falling out of the playoff race by late July? One baseball writer has an early idea for Kansas City.

On Tuesday, ESPN's David Schoenfield named Royals starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen, who is on a one-year deal and has been traded at each of the past two deadlines, as the Royals' "most likely" trade candidate this season.

"Considering the Royals' out-of-nowhere playoff season last year, it wouldn't necessarily be a surprise to see them take a step back,"Schoenfield wrote. "Let's hope not, as the more reasons to watch Bobby Witt Jr. the better. But it looks as if they're going to need some offense.

"If the lineup doesn't come around, teams will certainly inquire about Seth Lugo or a couple of the relievers, but Lorenzen would be the most likely to be traded. He's making $5.5 million this year with a $12 million mutual option for 2026."

Through four starts this season, Lorenzen sports a 4.57 ERA in 21 2/3 innings. Including last season, he's pitched to a 2.86 mark with the Royals over 50 1/3 innings, striking out 39 batters. He also recently achieved a personal milestone with 10 years of big-league service time.

No team is going to give the Royals a top 100 overall prospect for Lorenzen, but he can be a valuable swingman for somebody headed to the postseason. But that's still where the Royals hope they're headed, so they don't want this scenario to become a talking point.

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