Royals Were Interested In Luis Arraez Prior To Padres Trade

The Marlins made waves early this offseason on the trade market by striking an unprecedented May deal: sending Luis Arraez from Miami to San Diego last Friday in exchange for four players in exchange. Not entirely surprising given both Miami’s dismal start to the season and their trade partner — A.J. Preller of the Padres — being notoriously aggressive when it comes to signing top players. However, it appears the Padres weren’t alone in showing interest in Arraez when he made his trade debut; according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic’s reports this morning, both Royals and Padres showed some sort of curiosity regarding him before they executed that swap deal with one another.
Rosenthal emphasizes that talks between himself and Kansas City were preliminary and did not advance far, though their interest is telling: the Royals spent over $109MM this winter across multiple free agent signings; now that their season has started off on an impressive note with 20-15 record, perhaps further strengthening is in their plans?
Arraez is an underwhelming defensive player at both second base and first base; however, his bat can help serve designated hitter duties effectively. Due to Vinnie Pasquantino being available at first base for Kansas City, most likely most of Arraez’s playing time would’ve come at second base or designated hitter.
Instead, they’ll rely on 26-year-old second baseman Michael Massey’s recent hot hitting and look to Nelson Velazquez, acquired in a deadline deal from Cubs last season after hitting 14 homers over 147 plate appearances with Royals but currently hitting just.215/.284/.344 with 30.4% strikeout rate as primary designated hitter this season.
Kansas City Royals’ pursuit of one of the few players genuinely available on the trade market at such an early point indicates they won’t necessarily be satisfied with their offseason additions and any in-house reinforcements that might surface, either. Furthermore, this signals their willingness to deal from their top end farm system; because their system is not considered particularly strong by most observers. Kansas City would likely need to expend one or more notable prospects just to pique Miami’s interest.
However, any interest from teams that did not end up trading for players only holds so much weight; ultimately the Royals’s interest in Arraez may just serve as a footnote that’s worth remembering come free agency time. But it also gives Royals fans a clue into how their team could operate going forward and lends credence to the belief that they may make some serious noise if other high-profile bats become available this summer. How the Marlins proposed paying down the remaining portion of Arraez’s contract remains unknown, although Kansas City opened their season with roughly an $116MM payroll, according to RosterResource, and had reached as high as $143.7MM under their previous ownership regime (via RosterResource).
The Royals’ offseason activity alluded to their focus on winning now, and as long as they remain within striking distance of postseason contention they appear intent on keeping that momentum going.