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Report: White Sox ‘interested’ in Royals infielder originally appeared nbc sports chicago
of white socks Trying to attack their needs at second base.
The South Siders are interested in acquiring Kansas City Royals infielder Nicky Lopez in a trade. athletic.
The report details that the Royals are not keen on trading Lopez because they see him as a valuable depth piece and a useful utility player. If you can package an attractive offer, you may be able to successfully trade a versatile infielder.
Lopez, 27, is entering his fifth season in the majors. He spent the first four seasons of his career with the Royals, during which time he played every position in the infield except first base.
In the 2021 season, Lopez posted his best two-way year to date. He reached the top 50 players in the league for the most hits, and he had 149 that year. He batted .300/.365/.378 with .300/.365/.378 and had 22 stolen bases. That was the 12th most in MLB that season.
Last year was a lackluster year for Lopez despite appearing in 141 games. He batted .227/.281/.554 at bat and had a modest 100 hits and 20 RBIs during the season. At second base, he recorded his worst defensive run save value, bringing home a value of -8.
But for the 2022 season, the White Sox need a better second baseman than Lopez.
As of this writing, the White Sox plan is to place Romy Gonzalez, Lenin Sosa and utility man Lurie Garcia in the position. But back in early January, Rick Hahn mentioned the possibility of dealing with positions outside the organization.
“At the end of the day, if you choose between Romy and Lenin, with Lurie as a potential backup, we feel that it certainly gives us a chance to win, but at the same time, it doesn’t necessarily prevent us from seeing .in a way to get better,” Hahn said in early January.
more: Hahn content with 2B option.the door remains open
Certainly, letting Gonzalez take the post would be riskier than Lopez. Lopez has played 10 times more games than Gonzalez in the big leagues and has a successful track record for the position.
Interestingly, Hahn said at the offseason front that he believes much of the team’s offseason legwork will come via the trade market.
But from the start, they’ve abandoned that plan by acquiring starter Mike Clevinger and outfielder Andrew Benintendi as free agents.
But Hahn’s predictions about offseason plans may not be wrong just yet.
The Kansas City Royals are active in the trade market and are also active in AL Central. They traded center fielder Michael Taylor Jr. to the Minnesota Twins on Monday for pitchers Evan Sisk and Stephen Cruz.
And another report says the Royals have yet to close on the trading market, despite having two runs in January.
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