Kansas City Royals Must Consider Trading Luke Hochevar In 2016

The Kansas City Royals have followed up their World Series victory with a .500 record a quarter of the way through the 2016 season. Their championship was built on the power arms in their bullpen. This year they need to consider whether leveraging one or more of those arms may help the future of the organization.

Looking down in the bullpen, you have three key pitchers in closer Wade Davis, setup man Kelvin Herrera and backup closer Joakim Soria. The only lefty in the bullpen is Brian Flynn. Then you have Luke Hochevar.

Hochevar is an interesting situation. Hochevar was the top overall draft pick back in 2006. There was a time when it was thought that he would be the starting pitcher equal to Zack Greinke. From 2008-12, Hochevar was a starting pitcher on bad teams. He had a record of 38-58. Each year during that span, he made at least 17 starts and never had an ERA below 4.68. Then in 2013, he became a reliever.

In 2013 and 2015, Hochevar was a low-leverage, high-results pitcher. He collected a handful of holds during 7th innings, but only had three saves combined in those two seasons. He missed all of 2014 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Things are a little different in 2016. Already in 2016, he has as many holds as he did in all of 2015. Soria has been ineffective for much of the season, making the Royals rely on Hochevar more. With a division leader like the San Francisco Giants having bullpen issues, Hochevar should be valuable. Even to contending teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hochevar could bring back a nice return.

Hochevar is a free agent on a team that is slowly falling out of contention. Injuries may cost the Royals any chance of repeating. They must consider moving Hochevar to help restock their minor leagues.