The Royals had multiple options this off-season. The main question though was whether or not they would trade #1 prospect, Wil Myers.

The Royals needed to add a star pitcher to the rotation and they accomplished that goal on Sunday night. However, it ended up costing the Royals a lot in return. The trade consisted of four Royals prospects and two Rays starting pitchers. Kansas City’s prospects were #1MLB prospect Wil Myers, highly ranked starting pitchers, Jake Odorizzi and Mike Montgomery, as well as a third basemen, Patrick Leonard.

In return the Royals receive two pretty well established major league starting pitchers. KC gets veteran starter James Shields who will be the Royals #1 starter and Wade Davis who will probably be the Royals #3 starter behind recently acquired Ervin Santana.

The key to this trade is how many years the players have left on their contracts. The Rays get six whole years out of Myers because of his rookie contract, which is worth a lot. The Royals however will only get two seasons out of Shields before his contract is up.

One way that this deal could play out very well for the Royals is if Wade Davis plays well. This is true because the Royals will have Davis for six years before his contract is up.

Overall the Royals traded away the future for the opportunity to win now. Kansas City has every position accounted for except for right field at this point (which is where Meyers would have played).

The Royals are extremely talented at the big league level now. Obviously they were tired of waiting and so they made a risky deal to acquire starting pitching. We won’t be able to tell if this deal was successful for the Royals or not until the end of this season. It’s very simple. If the Royals don’t make the playoffs both of the next two seasons, then this deal was a bust and Royals GM Dayton Moore should be fired immediately for putting the Royals in the same position that they were in five years ago.