Potential trade targets: Brett Baty and Kodai Senga

It’s no secret that the Royals need help in their lineup. Most people assume the Royals have the pitching depth to trade from to improve their roster, but there’s some question about that. What if the Royals could make a trade to improve their hitting and, if not improve their pitching, then at least increase the floor a bit?

This proposed trade could be beneficial to both teams. The Mets clearly have soured on Kodai Senga a bit as they demoted him to the minor leagues toward the end of the season after a disastrous stretch of eight starts that saw him with a 6.56 ERA. But prior to that point, he had pitched to a 1.39 ERA on the season, topped off with a four-inning shutout appearance against the Royals on July 11. Prior to that, he had sustained a hamstring strain in June, which sidelined him for nearly a month and might serve as the reason he pitched so poorly to close out the season. Even with the terrible end to the year, he finished with an ERA of

Senga is under contract through the 2027 season, though there is language in his contract that says the team has a $15 million option on him in 2028 if he misses time with an elbow injury. So far, he’s missed time with a shoulder injury and two different leg injuries suffered while covering first base. That should offer some solace to any team acquiring the somewhat injury-prone pitcher, especially if they can ban him from covering first. Senga would be a particularly interesting pickup for the Royals because he throws a forkball. The forkball is similar to a splitter, but neither pitch is one that is well-represented in either the Royals’ major or minor leagues, and could offer some diversity in their pitch repertoires that might make everyone look a bit better.

Senga led the way last year with a fastball that, despite grading well, got awful results. If the Royals could help him improve his slider or sweeper, they might be able to allow him to use it more judiciously and therefore effectively. Or maybe he just needs to be able to better throw strikes in general. Either way, both are things Royals’ pitching coaching has had success aiding pitchers with.

As to why the Mets might want Bubic: he offers less team control but more upside in their rotation. They’d also be in a better position to extend him if he became the ace of their staff. He also costs less than Senga, which could be doubly attractive if the Mets truly have soured on the Japanese righty. If the Royals also view Bubic as better-suited to relief, this could be an opportunity to swap a pair of pitchers that each team doesn’t feel they can count on.

Meanwhile, the Mets have too many infielders after acquiring Marcus Semien, and many expect them to trade Jeff McNeil. However, the logjam is even deeper than that. Brett Baty is a natural third baseman, but the Mets employ Mark Vientos at the hot corner and so part of their gambit to get Baty more playing time was moving him to second – this is also what makes him a viable target for a Royals’ team that now seems to have third base locked down. However, with Semien locking down the keystone and Vientos destined to get most, if not all, of the playing time at third, Baty might be a man without a positional home in New York.

Additionally, the Mets have a need at catcher with Francisco Alvarez constantly injured and lacking any high-level catching prospects. Blake Mitchell would quickly become their top guy there. This time, each team would be trading a young guy with a bright future from a position of depth for one at a position of need.

Finally, I threw Jonathan India into the trade to balance out the salaries a little bit. You could easily swap him out for cash from the Mets and/or trade him for salary relief elsewhere.

Obviously, in the screenshot near the top, Baseball Trade Values thinks this is a bit of an overpay on the Royals’ part. But I think BTV is probably overvaluing Mitchell and India a bit while undervaluing Senga by some amount. For what it’s worth, their model does validate the trade, even as a moderate overpay.

This obviously is a trade from out of left field in terms of how people expect the Royals to try and do things, but it truly seems like it could benefit both rosters in a way that makes it viable. I’d be pretty happy about this from the Royals’ side. What about you?