Royals react to trade for outfielder Melky Cabrera

Less than an hour before the Royals’ 5-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, Alex Gordon caught the news on a television inside Fenway Park. That’s how he found out.

The Royals had acquired outfielder Melky Cabrera for minor-league pitchers A.J. Puckett and Andre Davis. The news sent a charge through the visitors clubhouse.

“He’s going to help our team a lot,” Gordon said. “He’s having a great year. We all know his personality — smiling, happy-go-lucky guy. Brings a lot of energy to the clubhouse.

“He’s going to be comfortable in this situation. We know what he can do.”

The details of the trade can be found here. But here is more reaction from the Royals’ clubhouse:

“Perfect. We believe Melky is a perfect addition to our team. Not only from a production standpoint, versatility, the switch-hitting, but also with regard to the chemistry. He’ll fit in extremely well.” — Royals general manager Dayton Moore

“(He’ll play) probably mostly right field for right now. We’ll mix and match Boni (Jorge Bonifacio) and Mossy (Brandon Moss) and see how it all works out. But it’s a quality bat, it’s a switch-hitting bat. It’s a bat we can put in the two-hole in our lineup. It’s a great trade for us.

“It just shows you how much Mr. (David) Glass and Dayton are committed to giving us everything that we can. Not only us, but the city. Giving us all everything that we can use to try to win.” — Royals manager Ned Yost.

“It’s a good pickup. Everyone knows he can hit. Good guy in the clubhouse and he want to play for us.” — shortstop Alcides Escobar

“It’s obvious we’re not a team that quits. The way we started, nothing to write home about. But it’s a long season and we believe in the process. It’s a very good group of guys. The vibe is good.” — starting pitcher Jason Hammel

This story was originally published July 30, 2017 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Royals react to trade for outfielder Melky Cabrera."