How will the disappointing Royals approach the upcoming trade deadline?

The Kansas City Royals are one of the more disappointing teams in Major League Baseball this season.

After losing in four games to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series last season, the Royals had aspirations of making it back to the postseason.

Kansas City is currently on the outside looking in. At 49-52, the Royals are 11 games behind the Detroit Tigers for first place in the AL Central and four-and-a-half games back from the third AL Wild Card spot.

ESPN staff created a trade deadline tracker detailing the latest intel with just nine days to go.

Buster Olney analyzed how the Royals are approaching the trade deadline, noting that the Royals have one foot in this season and one in the next.

“The Royals have signaled a willingness to trade, but with an eye toward competing again next year -- meaning they aren't willing to part with the core of their pitching staff,” wrote Olney. “Other teams say Kansas City is (unsurprisingly) looking to upgrade its future offense in whatever it does.

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“Right-handed starter Seth Lugo will be the most-watched Royal before the deadline, since he holds a $15 million player option for 2026 "that you'd assume he's going to turn down," said one rival staffer. That'll make it more difficult for other teams to place a trade value on him: The Royals could want to market him as more than a mere rental, while other teams figure he'll go into free agency in the fall when he turns down his option.”

Lugo, 35, has put together a nice campaign and has been rumored to be on the move for quite some time.

He is 6-5 with a 2.94 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 18 starts this season.

The Royals could hold on to Lugo, but it wouldn’t make much sense to do so. Expect Lugo to be moved in the coming days.

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