Royals bring in Paul DeJong

Kansas City's front office continues to add to the team. The offense, for the most part, has been alright this season aside from Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez. Manager Matt Quatraro has tried multiple players in the leadoff spot, including Adam Frazier, Maikel Garcia, and Garrett Hampson. Despite Garcia's struggles, I believe he will return to form before October. In my opinion, Frazier has been the best of the three, but not by much, with a batting average of .197 as of late. Although Garcia and Hampson have better numbers than Frazier, neither one has been able to get the ball rolling at the top of the lineup. Kansas City decided enough was enough with the lack of production from the top of the order and struck a deal with the White Sox for veteran shortstop Paul DeJong.
Chicago had brought in DeJong on a one-year deal worth $1.75 million plus incentives. The White Sox are a dumpster fire this season, clearly in a rebuild phase, but it wasn't supposed to be this bad. The Southsiders were projected to lose a total of 109 games and may lose more than that. Despite their abysmal roster, the White Sox still had a few players that could improve other teams' chances of playing in October. Both Chicago and Kansas City agreed on a deal to send DeJong to the Royals.
What does DeJong bring to the Royals? The 30-year-old has a disappointing batting average of .228, but oddly enough, it's a big improvement over his last season average with the Giants, which was below the Mendoza line at .184. Although DeJong has a poor average, he can hit the ball out of the park. The former All-Star has smashed 18 homers this season and will likely continue to do so in Kansas City. DeJong may force either Maikel Garcia or another infielder to the bench or off the roster entirely. The decision to bring DeJong aboard was a wise one by the front office. Not only does DeJong add more power to the lineup, but he also brings postseason experience. While with St. Louis, the infielder played in 14 playoff games over three years with the Redbirds.
DeJong is purely a rental player, unlike Lucas Erceg, whom the Royals acquired from the Athletics. It's somewhat ironic that the Royals and the White Sox were playing each other the same day a deal was agreed upon between the two sides. Like with the deal with Oakland, the team didn't have to give up any notable names for the infielder. Although righthander Jarold Rosado wasn't well-known to fans, it's always a risk to make a deal with a division foe.
Finally, although I am a bit shocked the team didn't add more than one arm to the pen, aside from Michael Lorenzen and Hunter Harvey, I think the team's front office believes the recently acquired players are enough to get Kansas City back in playoff contention, if not in a wild card spot, come October.






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