Royals trade Trevor Rosenthal for an outfielder and a player to be named later
The Kansas City Royals faced enough of an uphill climb to get into the playoff chase, which made closer Trevor Rosenthal expendable with the MLB trade deadline coming on Monday.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore pulled the trigger on a trade to send Rosenthal to the San Diego Padres in exchange for athletic outfielder Edward Olivares, a 24-year-old right-handed hitting native of Venezuela, and a player to be named later.
MLB rules prevent clubs from trading players who are not currently on their 60-man player pool during this pandemic-shortened season. The player to be named later is a way for teams to work around that restriction.
The Royals acquired outfielder Franchy Cordero and pitcher Ronald Bolaños from the Padres earlier this summer in a trade for left-handed pitcher Tim Hill.
“I wished we’d be adding at this point in time, but just with where we are right now it made more sense to capitalize on the opportunity to get a talented player back who is athletic, can play defense, steal bases, and has some developing power in his right-handed bat,” Moore said.
Olivares played in 13 major-league games for the Padres this season. He’ll go onto the Royals’ 40-man roster and report to the alternate training site.
Last season at Double-A, Olivares batted .283 with 25 doubles, two triples and 18 homers. He led the Texas League in total bases (221) and runs scored (85). He also ranked second in RBIs (77) and third in stolen bases (35) behind Royals outfielders Nick Heath and Khalil Lee.
Baseball America ranked him the 14th-best prospect in the Padres’ farm system in its latest rankings. MLBPipeline.com ranked him 20th.
The Royals entered Saturday with a 12-20 record and at the bottom of the American League Central Division standings.
“We just haven’t won as many games as we would need to at this point, and we’re running out of time,” Moore said. “We only have a month left to the season. And the standings don’t lie. ...Trying to make up as many games we need to make up in one month is challenging. If we had two months to go, I’d feel a little bit better about our chances. This was an opportunity to make us better.”
Rosenthal, a Lee’s Summit native and former All-Star closer with the St. Louis Cardinals, had anchored a much-improved bullpen for the Royals this season after that unit had been a glaring weakness in 2019.
Rosenthal has converted each of his seven save opportunities this season. Along the way, he has struck out 21 batters in 13 2/3 innings. He has walked seven, and opponents have batted .188 against him. He had a 1.17 WHIP in 14 appearances, and he has held opposing batters without a hit with runners in scoring position (0 for 11).
Rosenthal expressed his desire to remain with the Royals this week when asked about trade rumors.
“This is where I want to be,” Rosenthal said on Tuesday night. “I want to help this team win. I think we’ve got a chance to do something special and make a real run at this. I know all the way to the top, they believe that as well. Whatever happens, happens. It’s out of my control.”
The Royals were 12-18 through the first half of the shortened 60-game season. However, they’d lost back-to-back games with Wednesday night’s loss in St. Louis and Friday night’s in Chicago against the division rival White Sox. Both losses were on walk-offs.
Royals veteran left fielder Alex Gordon said the players gave Rosenthal a warm send off despite him having been with the club a short time. The guys in the clubhouse certainly haven’t closed the door on Rosenthal returning during the offseason.
While Rosenthal expressed desire to stay with the Royals, he would have been a free agent at the end of this season.
“Obviously, we’re going to miss him, but at the same time we wish him nothing but the best,” Gordon said. “We know San Diego is playing well right now. Their closer went down, so it kind of fit right in for him. We made it known that we want him back. Hopefully, he will (come back).”
Last season, his first year back after Tommy John surgery, the Washington Nationals released Rosenthal and the Detroit Tigers designated him for assignment. While he still threw with great velocity, he posted a 13.50 ERA with 17 strikeouts and 26 walks in 15 1/3 innings in the majors last season.
Rosenthal’s relationship with Royals manager Mike Matheny, they were together in St. Louis, played a big factor in Rosenthal signing a minor-league deal with the club this offseason.
“I think he truly enjoyed his time here,” Matheny said. “He loves wearing Royal blue. I’d love to see that work out somewhere in the future.”
This story was originally published August 29, 2020 at 4:37 PM.
