The trading deadline is today at 4 PM EST.  So around 3 PM CST, we’ll know if Ian Kennedy, Danny Duffy, Billy Hamilton, and Whit Merrifield are still Royals.

Yesterday, Ryan wrote about why the Royals must eliminate their focus on respectability if they truly want to build a reputable team.  Below is a snippet:

With every move, it appears to be more evident that their primary focus is fighting for respectability over competitiveness. The Royals have a roster which consists of some good players, but it is nowhere deep enough to even field a starting lineup that consistently wins games.

Eric Skoglund made a good start for the Storm Chasers but they lost in 10.

The Naturals lost, but Phillip Wellman won his 1,200th career MiLB game.  Congratulations to him.

Forrest Whitley destroyed the Blue Rocks in his start against them last night.  Blue Rocks lost 6-0.

The Legends had the night off.

Maikel Garcia walked it off for the Burlington Royals singling in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Michael Emodi was named Pioneer Player of the Week yesterday and the Chukars catcher had another hit last night although he had a few Ks.  Rhett Aplin had a solid night including a home run and 3 RBI.

The Arizona Royals were suspended in the B2, DSL 2 won 2-0, DSL 1 lost 8-2.

The Indians, Padres, and Reds matched up a three-team trade sending Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati, Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig to Cleveland, and the Padres getting prospects.  Off the top of my head, this trade was not the best for the Padres.  They gave up high quality talent for Taylor Trammel.  They must really like Trammel.  Some analysts seem to love it because they think Trammel can be a star and others don’t because he has been “injury prone” and they don’t know if the bat can live up to expectations.  The 21-year-old has struck out in 27% of his AA at bats with only 17 extra base hits this year.  Time will tell.

The benches emptied in Cincinnati.  Hey Yasiel, you can’t fight!  You just got traded!

Chris Martin for Kolby Allard?  That seemed like a big return for a reliever.  Imagine what Ian Kennedy can get for us.

The Cubs got their RH reliever giving up Thomas Hatch.

Baseball America did a project on the new balls at AAA.  This is a few weeks old but you might have missed it.  Well worth looking at.

While we try to stick with Royals prospect news there were some debates last night in Detroit as the Democrats seek to figure out who to run in the 2020 Presidential Election.  The New York Time’s has an interactive page that lists pretty much everyone running.  Marianne Williamson was the most Googled name during and after the debates last night.

Have a great day!

Image from the Burlington Royals website.  No photo credit was given.