The Kansas City Royals are “calling everyone” in an effort
to trade right-hander Luke Hochevar and left-hander Bruce Chen, reports Jeff
Passan of Yahoo! Sports.
Sources: Royals "calling everyone" to trade Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen. KC accelerating timetable to acquire starter, wants to free up $.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 29, 2012
The Royals are in the market for starting pitching, so
attempting to trade a pair of in-house arms may seem counter-intuitive.
However, Passan notes that Kansas City wants to deal Hochevar or Chen in order
to free up money and accelerate the process of adding another starting pitcher.
The Royals have already acquired Ervin Santana from the Los
Angeles Angels and re-signed veteran Jeremy Guthrie.
Hochevar was the first-overall pick of the 2006 MLB Draft,
and he was long considered one of the best young pitchers in the game. However,
his talent hasn’t translated to success at the major league level as he owns a
career ERA of 5.39 over six seasons.
Chen has been a durable innings eater for the Royals over
the past three seasons. The 35-year-old owns a career ERA of 4.60 over 14 years
in the majors.
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