Royals trade Timmy Hill to Padres for outfielder Franchy Cordero and pitcher Ronald Bolaños
Eight days before their season opener, the Kansas City Royals traded left-handed reliever Timmy Hill to the San Diego Padres for a pair of young players with major-league experience in a deal designed to bolster overall depth.
The Royals acquired 23-year-old Cuban right-handed pitcher Ronald Bolaños and 25-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder Franchy Cordero from the Padres in exchange for Hill.
While Bolaños and Cordero each immediately go onto the club’s 40-man roster — third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez (UCL sprain) will move to the 45-day injured list — Royals general manager Dayton Moore said the club’s two new acquisitions will likely begin the season training at the alternate site as opposed to being candidates for the opening day 30-man roster.
The trade also provides a clear indication that the Royals believe their bullpen, a glaring weakness last season, has become an area of strength from which they could afford to deal so close to the start of the season.
“I think that we’ve got a number of power arms in that bullpen right now, and I don’t think Mike (Matheny) is too concerned whether it’s a left-handed or right-handed matchup,” Moore said.
“We do feel like we have some quality left-handed arms. I’m not going to say they’re more accomplished than Timmy Hill at this point, but we like the emergence of a lot of our power arms, and we think that we’re going to utilize them in some of those more meaningful roles.”
Hill, 30, is a 6-foot-4 sidearm/submarine-style pitcher who pitched in the majors in 2018 and 2019 (116 games). He posted a 4.11 ERA with a 8.5 strikeouts/per 9, a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 1.22 WHIP during his two seasons in the majors.
Last season, left-handed hitters batted just .186 against Hill.
Hill, a 32nd round draft pick in 2014, survived a bout with colon cancer in 2015 while in the Royals farm system.
He’d spoken to reporters earlier this week about his decision not to opt-out of the season despite his health history putting him at higher risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Depth and potential
The 6-foot-3, 226-pound Cordero, originally signed out of the Dominican Republic as a shortstop, made his MLB debut in 2017. That year, he earned Triple-A All-Star honors from Baseball America and set a Triple-A record with 18 triples, tied for the most in the minor leagues that season.
He played in 30 games for the Padres after being promoted in 2017, but multiple injuries (forearm, elbow, quad) limited him the past two seasons. In 2018, he played seven games in the minors and 40 in the majors. Last season, he played 15 games in the minors and nine in the majors.
Cordero posted a slash line of .326/.369/.603 with 17 home runs, 21 doubles and 64 RBIs to go along with 18 triples in 93 games at Triple-A in 2017.
“Franchy is really one of the more tooled-out players that you’ll see,” Moore said. “He has unbelievable power from the left side. He has above average defensive skills. He has tremendous makeup. Unfortunately, for the last two years he hasn’t been able to stay on the field for whatever reason. He’s still very young.”
Moore also pointed to the pending free agency of current outfielders over the next few years as a catalyst for the club acquiring depth at the position.
Left fielder Alex Gordon signed a one-year deal this offseason. Outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler can become a free agent following the 2021 season.
Outfielders Bubba Starling and Brett Phillips are both fighting for spots on the 30-man roster, but both are out of minor-league options, which means one if not both could be exposed to waivers in the near future.
“We’re very encouraged with (Seuly) Matias. We’re very encouraged with (Kyle) Isbel. We’re very encouraged with Khalil Lee,” Moore said of the top minor-league outfield prospects. “But to add a guy like Cordero for the future we felt made a lot of sense as well.”
Baseball American ranked the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Bolaños the 13th-best prospect in the Padres farm system going into this season. He features a fastball that ranged from 94-98 mph and an above average overhand curveball. He also throws a slider which is regarded as this third-best pitch.
Bolaños, who still has three minor-league options remaining, made his MLB debut last season and appeared in five games (three starts), each in September.
In 2019, he began the minor-league season at High-A and advanced to Double-A before joining the major-league club in September. He posted a record of 13-7 with a 3.66 ERA, 142 strikeouts, 53 walks and a 1.24 WHIP in 25 minor-league games (23 starts).
“We’re just trying to acquire as many power arms as we can,” Moore said. “We feel like we’ve got some pretty good young starters, and we’ve got to make sure we protect those young starters with some power guys in the bullpen, some quality guys in the bullpen.”
The Royals included their top four pitching prospects Brady Singer, Jackson Koward, Daniel Lynch and Kris Bubic to spring training camp as well as to spring training 2.0 as part of their 60-player pool. All four project as potential starting pitchers.
Austin Cox and Daniel Tillo, who have also been starters in the minors, have also been part of the 60-man player pool training at Kauffman Stadium this month.
“He’s obviously pitched in the major leagues,” Moore said of Bolaños. “He’s got a weapon in an overhand curveball. We’ll probably look at him as a depth starter right now simply because we don’t have as much depth there as we’d like that’s on the 40-man roster. I think as we go forward, we could see him transitioning to the back-end of the bullpen.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Royals trade Timmy Hill to Padres for outfielder Franchy Cordero and pitcher Ronald Bolaños."
