A history of Royals trade deadlines in the Dayton Moore era

The Royals have been movers and shakers.

This year’s trade deadline will be 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, August 2, and it will be the only trade deadline as waiver trades are no longer permitted. The Royals have already made a few moves this summer, sending Carlos Santana to the Mariners for two pitchers, a draft pick to the Braves for three minor leaguers, and Andrew Benintendi to the Yankees for three minor league pitchers.

Could the Royals make some more deals? Let’s take a look at Royals July trades in the Dayton Moore era.

2006

July 24 - Traded pitcher Mike MacDougal to the White Sox for pitchers Tyler Lumsden and Dan Cortes

July 25 - Traded pitcher Elmer Dessens to the Dodgers for pitchers Odalis Perez, Blake Johnson, Julio Pimentel, and cash

Traded infielder Tony Graffanino to the Brewers for pitcher Jorge de la Rosa

July 31 - Traded pitchers Jeremy Affeldt and Denny Bautista to the Rockies for first baseman Ryan Shealy and pitcher Scott Dohmann

Traded outfielder Matt Stairs to the Rangers for pitcher Jose Diaz

Dayton Moore was only two months into the job when he made five trades in a week leading up to the July trade deadline. The moves would not amount to much, but they showed a willingness to be transactional and clean out dead weight in order to bring in young talent and stable arms for the rotation.

2007

July 31 - Traded pitcher Octavio Dotel to the Braves for pitcher Kyle Davies

Honestly, not a bad return for the perpetually injured closer Dotel, but the Royals gave Davies far too long to prove he was not a Major League starting pitcher.

2008

None. The Royals did make an August waiver deal sending Horacio Ramirez to the White Sox for a minor league outfielder named Paulo Orlando.

2009

July 10 - Traded pitchers Derrick Saito and Dan Cortes to the Mariners for shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt

The Royals were 37-49 and 10.5 games back when they decided to be buyers and trade for a long-term shortstop with plus hands and plus hands. Betancourt would hit .253/.282/.394 and was worth -1.0 fWAR before they traded him to Milwaukee.

2010

July 24 - Traded infielder Alberto Callaspo to the Angels for pitchers Will Smith and Sean O’Sullivan

July 28 - Traded outfielder Scott Podsednik to the Dodgers for catcher Lucas May and pitcher Elisaul Pimentel

July 31 - Traded outfielder Rick Ankiel and pitcher Kyle Farnsworth to the Braves for outfielder Gregor Blanco and pitchers Tim Collins and Jesse Chavez

With a crop of top prospects banging on the door, the Royals again got transactional, sending several vets out of town to make room for new seedlings.

2011

July 20 - Traded infielder Wilson Betimet to the Tigers for infielder Julio Rodriguez and pitcher Antonio Cruz

July 30 - Traded infielder Mike Aviles to the Red Sox for infielder Yamaico Navarro and pitcher Kendal Volz

Too bad it wasn’t that Julio Rodriguez.

2012

July 20 - Traded pitcher Jonathan Sanchez to the Rockies for pitcher Jeremy Guthrie

July 31 - Traded pitcher Jonathan Broxton to the Reds for pitchers Donnie Joseph and J.C. Sulbaran

The Sanchez/Guthrie deal was a challenge trade of “crap for crap”, but the Royals were able to bring Guthrie back from the dead to become a serviceable starting pitcher that would eventually start Game 7 of the World Series.

2013

July 31 - Traded pitcher Kyle Smith to the Astros for outfielder Justin Maxwell

The Royals found themselves as buyers for the first time in decades, as they were on the periphery of the Wild Card race. They didn’t want to go all-in, so they acquired a bench bat in Maxwell, who would hit a huge grand slam late in the year for them.

2014

July 16 - Traded pitcher Spencer Patton to the Rangers for pitcher Jason Frasor

July 28 - Traded third baseman Danny Valencia to the Blue Jays for pitcher Liam Hendriks and catcher Erik Kratz

Again, the Royals were buyers on the periphery of the race and made moves on the fringes of the roster, but it turned out every game mattered as the Royals snuck into the post-season and went on an amazing run that took them one win from a title.

2015

July 26 - Traded pitchers Brandon Finnegan, Cody Reed, and John Lamb to the Reds for pitcher Johnny Cueto and cash

July 28 - Traded pitchers Aaron Brooks and Sean Manaea to the Athletics for infielder Ben Zobrist and cash

Finally, the Royals go all in! Having jumped out to the best record in the league, the Royals cashed in some prospects for some impact veterans that turned out to have a huge impact int he post-season. Unfortunately, it depleted the farm system making it tough for later years - imagine how good the Royals would be now if they still had Cody Reed and Brandon Finnegan!

2016

July 30 - Traded outfielder Brett Eibner to the Athletics for outfielder Billy Burns

The Royals were quiet at the deadline in their title defense season because they were 49-55 at the deadline - the fifth-worst record in the American League. They would go 20-9 in August to make a legitimate run at a Wild Card spot - they were just two games out by the end of the month. But they would fade in September to end the season at 81-81.

2017

July 24 - Traded infielder Esteury Ruiz and pitchers Matt Strahm and Travis Wood to the Padres for pitchers Ryan Buchter, Trevor Cahill, and Brandon Maurer

The trade would end up as a dud as Cahill and Maurer were terrible in a Royals uniform, but it was pretty defensible at the time. It gave the Royals three arms they desperately needed as they were in the thick of a Wild Card race, and Ruiz was a million miles from the big leagues at the time. It just didn’t work out. It happens.

2018

July 22 - Traded pitcher Jacob Condra-Bogan to the Nationals for outfielder Brian Goodwin

July 27 - Traded third baseman Mike Moustakas to the Brewers for outfielder Brett Phillips and pitcher Jorge Lopez

Having already traded reliever Kelvin Herrera to the Nationals in June, the Royals continued the dismantling of their championship club by sending Moose to Milwaukee for two players that never got their footing in KC but have gone on to better things elsewhere.

2019

July 14 - Traded pitcher Homer Bailey to the Athletics for infielder Kevin Merrell

July 15 - Traded catcher Martin Maldonado to the Astros for pitcher Mike Montgomery

July 27 - Traded pitcher Jake Diekman to the Athletics for outfielder Dairon Blanco and pitcher Ismael Aquino.

None of the players the Royals received have done much, and I should point out that Maldonado had been traded the previous summer with nearly identical numbers for a pitcher younger than what the Royals got in Mike Montgomery - the Angels got Patrick Sandoval, who has been a 3.7 WAR pitcher over 34 games the last two seasons.

2020

July 16 - Traded pitcher Tim Hill to the Padres for outfielder Franchy Cordero and pitcher Ronald Bolanos

This was not a deadline move, this was actually a pre-season move as the season had not yet begun due to the pandemic.

2021

July 29 - Traded pitcher Danny Duffy for a player to be named later (pitcher Zach Willeman)

July 31- Traded outfielder Jorge Soler to the Braves for pitcher Kasey Kalich

The Duffy deal was contingent on his ability to be healthy enough to pitch, which he never was. Soler went on a tear just before the deadline to give him some value, then went on to win World Series MVP. Both Willeman and Kalich have had mixed results this year, mostly due to high walk rates.

2022

July 11 - Traded 35th pick in the 2022 draft to the Braves for third baseman CJ Alexander, outfielder Drew Waters, and pitcher Andrew Hoffmann

July 27 - Traded outfielder Andrew Benintendi to the Yankees for pitchers Chandler Champlain, T.J. Sikkema, and Beck Way

The Royals had also traded Carlos Santana back in June making this one of their more active summers. With the rebuild not happening as quickly as the front office would like, they could be even more active before the August 2 deadline.