Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins Apparently Discussed Big Trade at Winter Meetings

According to Ken Rosenthal of 'The Athletic,' the Kansas City Royals and Miami Marlins discussed the framework of a big trade at the Winter Meetings. That deal never came to fruition, but it's always fun to hear about what could have been.

Per Rosenthal:

They could trade first baseman/DH Vinnie Pasquantino to the Marlins for left-hander Jesús Luzardo, a deal sources said was discussed at the winter meetings

Don't fret, everyone, the wording of "they could" was merely used as a way to show all the way the Royals "could" have gone about improving their team this offseason. Rather than make this deal though, the Royals elected to have a free agent spending spree, adding Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Chris Stratton, and Hunter Renfroe.

At the time of the Winter Meetings though, this deal could have made some sense. The Marlins do need offense, especially after seeing Jorge Soler hit the free agent market. The Royals do need pitching, given that Brady Singer and Cole Ragans were the only-upside pitchers on the roster (before signing Wacha and Lugo).

The 26-year-old Luzardo went 10-10 in 2023 with a 3.58 ERA. He's 23-28 for his career with a 4.18 ERA. He came up with the Oakland Athletics. Should he stay in Miami, he'll be asked to help shoulder the load of the rotation given that Sandy Alcantara is out for the year.

Pasquantino is one of the more exciting young sluggers in baseball and will be fully healthy in 2024 after missing most of 2023 with a shoulder injury.

He hit .247 with nine homers and 26 RBI in that reduced action. After coming up in 2022 and making his major league debut, he hit 10 homers and drove in 26. Thus, he has 19 homers and 52 RBI for his career.

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