With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, the Royals are reportedly ready to wheel and deal some of their veteran players. Scott Podsednik, Rick Ankiel, Jose Guillen and Kyle Farnsworth's names have all been linked to potential trades. Also in that mix of names was David DeJesus, probably the most prized piece on the Royals roster. The return on DeJesus would be ok. He isn't a big name player and doesn't have the "sexy" power or speed that would net the Royals a blockbuster set of prospects.
That isn't a knock on DeJesus, its a knock on how under appreciated players like DeJesus are in baseball.
He'll be affordable. We know this. All of his important skills probably won't significantly decline in the next 5 years. His speed and power may decrease, but here's the beauty of this: DeJesus isn't known for either of those things.
He's currently batting .324/.399/.482/.881. Pretty awesome numbers. His OPS+ currently stands at 139, a career high.
Those are the facts. Now here's why we should keep him.
Yes his value is high right now. But the return will not be substantial enough. I say this because the Royals system is extremely shallow in the outfield. Derrick Robinson, David Lough and Jordan Parraz seem to be close to the big leagues, but having a veteran (and overall nice guy) like DeJesus to welcome them to the bigs would net much more value than 2-3 C+ prospects. Um, not to mention DeJesus has been the most consistent offensive performer on the Royals in the last 7 years.
I'm not saying DDJ should be a Royals lifer, but he definitely deserves to spend a few more seasons with the Royals. I'm not trying to be a Royals "sunshine pumper", but trading DeJesus just doesn't make that much sense. That is, unless he is designated as a Type A free agent, in which case the Royals would be compensated with draft picks.
Re-sign him to a three year deal. He just started a family here and might be willing to give the Royals the good ol' home town discount.
He's not just a good player, but he's a good guy and definitely deserves to stick around and be a part of (hopefully) a new generation of Royals winners.
He's not going to give the Royals a discount. He's a Boras guy I am pretty sure. He's 6 mil for next year and they will probably let him go to arbitration and then decline arbitration and take the 1-2 draft picks of compensation they will get for him
ReplyDeleteDeJesus isn't a Boras client. If he is considered a Type A free agent after this year, then this post is completely irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteKeep DeJesus he is a very popular and productive plsyer fot the Royals.
ReplyDelete