One of the first major trades of the summer occurred on Monday, as closer, two-time all-star, and RHP Kelvin Herrera of the Kansas City Royals was traded to the Washington Nationals for three prospects including 3B Kelvin Gutierrez, CF Blake Perkins, and RHP Yohanse Morel. Herrera wasn’t a pitcher that was highly talked about this season, but he was talked about somewhat given the rebuilding position that the Royals are in and the incredible stats that he has. If any team is in need of a good reliever for the long term, then they would definitely focus on Herrera. The guy not only has incredible stats during the season, but he also has been pretty consistent in pulling out nice stats for his entire career. Now, I’m going to get into the analysis of how the trade affects both teams.
So far this year, Herrera has a 1-1 record, 1.05 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 22 strikeouts, 2 walks, .207 BAA, and 14 saves out of 16 save opportunities in 25.2 innings pitched and 27 games. As you can obviously tell, Herrera has been an incredible reliever so far this year, but he’s also been spectacular for his entire career. For it, he has a 23-27 record, 2.75 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 438 strikeouts, 128 walks, .226 BAA, and 57 saves out of 78 opportunities in 441.1 innings pitched and 442 games. All of these stats show that Herrera is easily one of the best relievers in the active MLB. This year, he also has a 7.71 strikeouts per 9 innings, 0.70 walks per 9 innings, and an extremely amazing 11 strikeouts to walks.
The Nationals bullpen has been holding up very well so far this year. Their ERA so far between everyone who is a full bullpen pitcher before Herrera came was a solid 3.60, which isn’t great but it’s good. Herrera’s incredible stats throughout this year should definitely help bolster that up even more when it comes to the rest of the season and with the playoffs when that come. With bats like Matt Wieters, Bryce Harper, and Daniel Murphy hitting the free agency market at the end of the year, they’ll want to try their best to win it all this year. Herrera is great in the playoffs too, as he bolsters a 2-0 record, 1.26 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 22 strikeouts, 3 walks, and a .200 BAA in 28.2 innings pitched and 22 games. He should definitely be able to combo with star reliever Sean Doolittle well for close playoff and regular season games as well for the rest of this year, as he is a free agent at the end of the year.
The Royals were given three prospects in the trade. The best out of the three is likely Kelvin Gutierrez, who has a .274 AVG, 5 HR, 26 RBI, .321 OBP, .391 SLG, .713 OPS, 63 hits, 62 strikeouts, and 16 walks in 230 at-bats at Double-A (AA). He is also now the number 8 prospect in the Royals top 30 with a 45 overall rating and praise on his arm, which has a 65 rating. The next best is probably Blake Perkins, who has a .234 AVG, 1 HR, 21 RBI, .344 OBP, .290 SLG, ,634 OPS, 59 hits, 67 strikeouts, and 42 walks in 252 at-bats at Class A Advanced (A+). He is now the number 15 prospect in the Royals top 30 with a 45 overall rating and praise on his running and field who both have ratings of 60. Finally, the Royals acquired Yohanse Morel, who has a 0-0 record, 8.10 ERA, 2.10 WHIP, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk, and a .375 BAA in 3.1 innings pitched and 1 game started in the Arizona League Royals so far this year.
These prospects could help the Royals once they finish their rebuild. The most likely one to, in my opinion, is Gutierrez. Now, Perkins could definitely be good too, but Gutierrez has the highest slugging percentage at nearing .400, so he definitely has more potential to slug more extra base hits and his good arm should make him a solid asset at third base. Perkins has a lot of potential to reach on base more though. A .344 OBP is solid for a player, and it shows that he definitely has some decent potential as a leadoff hitter, but his biggest problem is his .290 SLG, which isn’t good and shows that it’s much more unlikely to slug extra base hits and homers, but his good fielding could make him like Jon Jay. Morel is definitely too young and inexperienced to make a decisive decision on him. If there’s any positives, it’s his 5 strikeouts and 1 walk.
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