J.J. Picollo says Royals are in a ‘gray area’ regarding trade returns at MLB deadline
With just four days until the Major League Baseball trade deadline, only eight teams are 10 games or more out of a playoff spot.
That’s resulted in a larger group of buyers at the deadline than usual — but with a caveat. Not every team is looking to go all-in on a World Series push.
Royals general manager J.J. Picollo explained Friday how that’s led to his team being in a “gray area” when sorting through trade options before the deadline.
“There’s some teams that are clearly adding (players),” Picollo said hours before the Royals-Twins game on Friday. “They feel like they’re going to be in the playoffs. They feel strong about their possibilities and they’re strengthening their club and they’re not worrying too much about what they’re giving up.
“Then you have a large pool of teams that are in the middle. And what we’ve taken out of it is their objective is to try to acquire players with years remaining on their contract. So if things don’t go the way they want this year, they still have something in return for the coming years, which makes it more difficult for us. Because for a player like that, we’d like to acquire someone that would add to our major-league team or (be) near-ready for our major-league team.
“When you have guys on major-league teams and you’re trading them for three or four minor-league prospects and years of control, that’s really not the direction we want to go in. So we’re a little bit in a gray area right now when it comes to that type of player.”
Picollo made it clear the Royals are looking for players who can join the core they identify from this season’s team.
Unfortunately for the Royals, this year’s squad has the second-worst record in baseball at 29-75. Picollo outlined what he’d like to see from the team in the final two months.
“We’ve got to compete for the last 60 games of this season. That’s a lot of games and a lot of good things can happen but a lot of bad things can happen,” Picollo said. “We need to focus on the good. We need to set the tone for things we need to do in 2024.
“Our guys are being tested pretty good right now. But this is where we’re going to find out who has the moxie to step up and say, ‘You know what? I am part of this group moving forward.’ But it’s more with competing. We’ve got to compete every night, and we’ve got to do it at a higher level than we are right now.”
As the John Sherman-termed “season of evaluation” continues, Picollo will be open to trading for players who can help in 2024. But that won’t preclude the Royals from making a deal for prospects if the price is right.
“I think we can add anywhere,” he said. “You want to add (to) your own farm system, you want to add to your major-league team. We have more of an interest based on the core of our team right now that we think is our future, to adding pieces that will help put that team together. That’s our preference.
“But if there’s a deal out there that makes us feel like this is going to help us long term, I don’t think we can ignore it either. So we can go either way.”
This story was originally published July 28, 2023 at 6:17 PM with the headline "J.J. Picollo says Royals are in a ‘gray area’ regarding trade returns at MLB deadline."
