Red Sox's 'Most Likely' Trade Candidate Makes Sense For Royals
The Kansas City Royals are going to have to find some offense at the trade deadline, and they're probably going to have to get creative to do so.
Kansas City has two main issues: They don't have a great farm system to help land star players, and they also probably aren't willing to spend much more on payroll. So the eventual acquisition might have to come from the roster of a team with a logjam of position players who is willing to sell someone cheap.
If the Royals are looking for an ideal suitor, they should look no further than the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox are hovering around .500, but their roster is overflowing with talented youngsters. In fact, their logjam is so bad that the player they acquired in exchange for last year's National League Cy Young winner can't even crack the big-league roster.
On Wednesday, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller named Red Sox minor league infielder Vaughn Grissom as Boston's "most likely" trade candidate this summer.
"I suspect Vaughn Grissom will be at the top of their list of players they're trying to trade away if they're buyers at the deadline," Miller wrote. "For starters, there's not going to be room for him to play in Boston's infield again any time soon, and his free agency clock is already ticking.
"There's also the fact that he will be forever tainted as the guy they gave up Chris Sale to get, which somehow becomes even more painful if he just never makes it back to the big leagues. Might as well try to get something for him, even though he isn't exactly raking in Worcester."
Grissom, who is still only 24, has a .260/.335/.383 slash line at Triple-A Worcester. The Royals might like to see him hitting for a bit more power, but the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder couldn't realistically be much worse than Michael Massey has been offensively this yera.
There are a couple of ways the Royals and Red Sox could do a Grissom trade. The Royals could be the "buyers," sending back a low-level prospect or two with some upside. Or the Red Sox, whose pitching staff is in some turmoil, could send more prospects back with Grissom for one of Kansas City's many standout relievers.
Though there are dozens of hitters worth considering for the Royals at this trade deadline, Grissom ranks high on the list in terms of intrigue.
More MLB: Royals Urged To Call Up Surging 27-Year-Old To Boost Struggling Outfield
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