Red Sox-Royals Trade Idea Sees Boston Cut Ties With No. 2 Prospect
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Could the Kansas City Royals deal from a position of depth to bring in an outfielder, which they sorely need?
If the Royals are strong at any position, it's catcher. They have franchise icon Salvador Perez and solid backup Freddy Fermin at the big-league level, plus top prospects Blake Mitchell, Carter Jensen, and Ramon Ramirez in the minors.
Perez looks to be approaching the end of his days behind the plate, so the question these days is whether the 20-year-old Mitchell or the 22-year-old Jensen will be his long-term replacement as the starter.
The Royals might want to give both youngsters a shot, but what if trading one could land them an outfielder of relatively equal value from a team that needs a young catcher?
On Wednesday, Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter proposed a mock trade in which the Royals would ship Jensen, who is in Triple-A, to the Boston Red Sox for their number-two prospect, Triple-A outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia.
"Garcia has backed up his 2024 breakout performance by hitting .278/.361/.474 with 12 doubles, 14 home runs and 48 RBI in 81 games between Double-A and Triple-A," wrote The 22-year-old is close to ready for his first big league action, but the Red Sox already have a crowded outfield in the majors, making him one of the most obvious trade candidates among prospects. For the Royals, he would provide a much-needed young outfield bat with legitimate offensive upside.
Garcia has checked all the boxes at the Triple-A level, handling off-speed pitches, making lots of hard contact, and continuing to improve on defense. He'd be worth calling up to the Royals' active roster by September if he magically appeared in their organization.
Obviously, there's no magic wand to wave here. Jensen is a big-time prospect too, arguably an even better one than Garcia. This would be a bet by the Royals that Mitchell is the future heir to Perez's throne and that nipping the outfield shortage in the bud is worth giving the Red Sox a potential starting backstop.
"Baseball trades" like this are easier to pull off in the winter, but we'll see if the Royals have any tricks up their sleeve by Thursday evening.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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