BY MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
With the clock ticking towards today's MLB trade deadline at 3pm , Royals GM Dayton Moore moved a couple of expiring contracts.
The first move came Thursday evening as the Royals announced the trade of starting pitcher Danny Duffy to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Duffy who is currently on the IL is 4-3 with a 2.51 ERA this season for the Royals, splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen.
In order to make the trade work Duffy had to wave his 10 to 5 rights which allowed him to veto any trade by virtue of spending his entire eleven year career with the Royals, and the Royals also had to send cash considerations to LA. The Royals in return received a player to be named later.
On Friday just prior to the clock striking three, the Royals announced one more move, a trade of Jorge Soler.
Soler, who has struggled this season, had recently found his power swing having two home run games in back to back games against the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox, giving him some added trade value with his recent power surge.
Soler will join the Atlanta Braves, who have been stacking up on outfielders, looking to replace Ronald Acuna Jr who earlier this season tore his ACL. The Braves also added Eddie Rosario from Cleveland and Adam Duvall from Miami prior to the deadline, as well as Joc Pederson from the Cubs just after the All Star break.
In return the Royals added another young pitching arm to their farm system, right handed pitcher Kasey Kalitch. Kalitch has been assigned to Quad Cities, the Royals high A ball team.
Kalitch, Atlanta's fourth round pick in 2019 out of Texas A&M spent the 2021 season with the Braves high A team, pitching to a 3.21 ERA with 35 strikeouts and going 5 for 5 in save opportunities over 20 appearances. Kaltich joins former Aggie teammate Asa Lacy, the Royals 2020 first round pick, in high A.
Following the trades of Duffy and Soler the Royals have thirty eight players on their forty man roster, with two spots open some fans are beginning to wonder if the Royals will make a move to add either first baseman Nick Pratto or shortstop Bobby Witt Jr to the forty.