The Royals are all but completely out of the playoff picture, and with the season into June, that means trade rumors are going to start ramping up.
Kansas City will have a couple tradable assets, but the veteran that would net the most in a trade is Salvador Perez. He’s one of the best players at his position, and catchers who also can hit always fetch a decent return around the deadline because there are so few.
It turned heads when The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal wrote that a team that had engaged in trade talks with the Royals. Said team came away with the impression that they wanted to move Perez – whose $20 million a year salary accounts for a little more than a fifth of the payroll.
In most circumstances, it would make plenty of sense for a team like the Royals to entertain trading their star catcher. But Perez is such an indispensable part of the organization that its almost unconscionable to envision the Royals moving him.
General manager J.J. Picollo made clear Monday that the team wasn’t planning on trading Perez. Manager Matt Quatraro reiterated that Wednesday in his weekly appearance on Fescoe in the Morning.
“We talked to Salvy, that rumor came up created not from us," Quatraro said. "We’ve been very honest with him right from the beginning that we have no intention of trading Salvy.
"He has no desire to go anywhere else, and as you guys have seen for 12 or 13 years now, he’s been a huge part and is now the face of the franchise and the face of the team and the community. So, we have no intention of trading him and he’s aware of that.”
Perez is hitting .275 this season with an .817 OPS, posting 14 homers and 37 RBIs through 61 games. If they don’t trade Perez, their best trade chips are probably in the bullpen with Aroldis Chapman and Scott Barlow.
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