Thursday November 1st, 2012

Sam Evans: Never before have the Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals swapped significant players. This could mean very little, but it could also mean these two franchises have no interest in doing business with each other. Nonetheless, with the Rays abundance of young pitching and the Royals lack of pretty much any pitching, a trade between these two would make perfect sense.

Speculating trades is not particularly an easy thing, nor does it have much meaning. However, I believe all baseball fans are born with a little chip inside them that requires them to come up with trades in their free time. Like I said, the chances of these trades happening are close to zero, but its fun nonetheless. (For the record, the only trade I have ever predicted correctly is the Carlos Silva/Milton Bradley trade in 2009). Without further ado, here is one highly unlikely yet not impossible trade scenario for the Royals and Rays:

Trade proposal: Kansas City trades Christian Colon and Clint Robinson to Tampa Bay for Chris Archer and Felipe Rivero

Christian Colon was a first-round pick in 2010 who has had an up and down two seasons in the minors. 2011 was an awful season for Colon, who appeared to be a bust by all accounts. However, in 2012, Colon slowly rebuilt his reputation until the point where talent evaluators began to wonder if Colon could become an above-average second baseman in his prime. While that might never happen, Colon still has plenty of potential and he should see time in the majors in 2013. As much as the Royals need middle infield help, they need starting pitching even more. It would be hard for Kansas City to part with their former first rounder, but Archer would not be a bad return.

Clint Robinson is a man in need of a new organization. This twenty-seven year old lefty first baseman has put up huge numbers for every minor league team he has played with. Despite a 130 and 122 wRC+ in Triple-A Omaha over the past two seasons, Robinson has only received four major league plate appearances. With Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler both looking like they will be in Kansas City for the next couple of years, Robinson is blocked at the major league level. He might be just another Quad-A player, but you’d never know unless you gave him a chance. Kansas City would not lose much by trading Robinson and Tampa Bay would be making a potentially amazing move.

Chris Archer is a twenty-four year old starting pitcher who broke into the majors with KC in 2012. Archer struck out 11.05 batters per nine innings in just six games, four starts, for the Royals. Most believe Archer has the potential to be a number three starter if everything goes right. An asset like that would be of huge value to the Royals rotation. Meanwhile, the Rays, who legitimately have seven starting pitchers heading into spring, would acquire a talented young middle infielder who could provide value coming off the bench in 2013.

Felipe Rivero is the second part of this trade. Rivero, a twenty-one year old left-handed pitcher from Venezuela, weighs about as much as a typical baby giraffe (150 pounds). Rivero has had impressive success in the lower levels of the minors, but he is far, far away from a finished product. He struggles with his mechanics and in particular keeping a consistent arm slot. Rivero will probably be a reliever down the road, so the Rays shouldn’t be too scared to part with him. However, the Royals could get a steal if they find a way to turn Rivero into a starter.

This trade would benefit both Tampa Bay and Kansas City. The Royals would get some much-needed pitching, while the Rays would get some infield help. Even if this trade never happens, it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone if the Rays and Royals make a trade this offseason. Each team has something that the other team needs. Stay tuned to see if the Rays and Royals do indeed swap players.

(*The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com*)

***Today’s feature was prepared by Sam Evans, Baseball Writer.  We highly encourage you to leave your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page and share in the discussion with our readers.  You can also follow Sam on Twitter. (@RJA206)***

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