Could Royals Trade For Marlins' Kyle Stowers? MLB Writer Pitches 1-for-1 Swap
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No Major League Baseball team would be crazed enough to trade the Kansas City Royals a promising outfielder with 4 1/2 years of club control... or would they?
The Miami Marlins just might be that team, because they've embarked on a rebuild so arduous that anyone over the age of 25 seems to be of little use to them. That's led to many reports speculating that they could trade 27-year-old Kyle Stowers, who has a 119 OPS+ in his first full season as a big-league starting outfielder.
While Stowers might be available, one would think the Royals would have to give up something of value to take him off Miami's hands. That means sending them at least one blue-chip prospect who better meets their timeline than Stowers, who no other team on earth would see as "aging."
Royals Review's Jeremy Greco recently pitched such a trade. In a hypothetical swap, Grego proposed that the Royals could send catcher Carter Jensen, the organization's number-three prospect per MLB Pipeline, to the Marlins for Stowers.
"I continue to not believe in the long-term future of Carter Jensen, especially when the Royals have Blake Mitchell and Ramon Ramirez coming through the system at the same time," Greco wrote.
"The power just isn't there, and the batting average is powered by an insane BABIP. If the Royals could get a quasi-proven bat like Stowers for a guy who might never be more than a backup in the big leagues, they should absolutely do it."
Jensen, 21, was promoted to Triple-A earlier this week after putting up a .780 OPS in 68 games at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. There's promise there, no doubt, but as Greco references, catching is the strength of the Royals' farm system at the moment.
Stowers would be tied for the Royals' team lead in home runs right now with 11, which is also as many as the entire Royals outfield combined this season. If he's available for a single prospect, Kansas City should think long and hard about pulling the trigger.
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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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