The Kansas City Royals are trying to stay in the race for a playoff spot and addressed an issue with their roster ahead of the 2024 MLB All-Star break. ESPN’s Jeff Passon is reporting that the team has agreed to trade the 39th pick in the 2024 MLB draft and third baseman Cayden Wallace to the Washington Nationals for reliever Hunter Harvey.
Teams are not allowed to trade draft picks in baseball but the pick in this trade is allowed as that rule does not include competitive balance picks. Hunter Harvey has been able to do decently well as he has appeared in 43 games and in 45.0 innings is 2-4 with a 4.20 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP.
What does this trade mean for the Kansas City Royals going forward? Let’s take a deeper dive to discuss exactly what this all means going forward.
What does this trade mean for the Kansas City Royals going forward?
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The Kansas City Royals are currently sitting in third place in the AL Central with a 52-44 record and have one game remaining on the road against the Boston Red Sox before the All-Star break. As of this writing, they are seven games back in the division and one game out of the final spot in the AL Wild Card.
One of the weakest points for the Royals this season has been the production from their bullpen as they rank 21st in the big leagues with a 4.26 reliever ERA. This team does not have a lot of experience as the only pitchers with more than five years of MLB service in the bullpen are Christ Stratton and Will Smith.
The Kansas City Royals understand their need to improve the bullpen and the team did not value the compensatory pick that they were given as much as they do the present team. With pitching injuries being rampant in baseball, this is a chance for the Royals to get an experienced pitcher off a non-contending team in the National League to add to their bullpen.
Hunter Harvey is being paid $2.325 million this season, of which about half is being paid by the Kansas City Royals. He has one year remaining of arbitration before becoming an unrestricted free agent after the 2025 season.
About the Author
Vincent Pensabene graduated from Saint Leo University in 2019 with a B.A. in Sport Business and has focused on the media side of sports. He writes for multiple publications and is interested in the reasoning of why things happen. Feel free to follow him on social media @TalkVinTalk and discuss all things sports.
