The Kansas City Royals have refused trade offers for starting pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha as the MLB trade deadline approaches on Monday.
The Kansas City Royals have made their stance clear on starting pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha ahead of the MLB trade deadline on Monday at 6 p.m. EDT.
According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, the Royals have "rebuffed all offers" for the duo in an effort to contend next season.
That decision comes after Kansas City showed earlier signs of selling when they shipped off center fielder Lane Thomas to the Atlanta Braves during Saturday's matchup against the Colorado Rockies.
Regardless, the team has held one of the worst records in MLB, going 46-66 overall and ranking fifth in the AL Central while falling 7.5 games behind the fourth-place Detroit Tigers who dealt back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers even though they sit just 2.5 games out of the final AL playoff spot.
As a result, choosing to stand pat and not move Lugo and Wacha at the deadline may prove to be disastrous for a Royals squad that is nowhere close to sniffing the postseason and is in desperate need of a complete teardown.
This season, Wacha has led Kansas City's rotation with a 3.51 ERA and 1.16 WHIP on the season after striking out 111 batters and earning five wins in 22 games started. With that, the 35-year-old right-hander could have fetched a reasonable return for the struggling Royals.
Moreover, Wacha is not that far removed from a remarkable showing against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 22. He would fan five batters and surrender a single earned run across seven innings, allowing Kansas City to come out on top 2-1.
Meanwhile, Lugo has been having a decent season in his own right, holding a 4.41 ERA and 1.37 WHIP while recording 99 strikeouts in 128.2 innings of work so far. Even at 36 years old, Lugo might have also given a contending team's rotation an extra boost in time for the playoffs.
Nonetheless, age will lead to the pair's inevitable decline and moving off either of them in the future could become more difficult when teams become less willing to part ways with quality assets than they are now.
Furthermore, Lugo concluded his most recent start on Sunday against the Rockies having given up five walks while loading the bases in the sixth inning.
With the second half of the MLB season in full swing, it is to be determined if the Royals' stubbornness will pay off.
