Jeff Passan

I mean, there are Royals players right now who are wondering, am I going to be traded?

Like, you think they don't think about this?

Of course they do.

Of course they do because it's their life being upended and it's a realistic possibility when you're losing games like this.

And the question for the Royals, I think, at this point is,

how much time do you give yourself before that decision?

Who are we going to trade?

How much of this are we going to unload?

How much are we going to start over?

To me, the untradeables on this team right now, Bobby Wood Jr.

is not going anywhere.

Mikel Garcia, not going anywhere.

Carter Jensen, not going anywhere.

Jack Cagliome, probably not going anywhere.

Beyond that, how many guys are you in a position, if you're the Royals, to say no to?

Yeah, Vinny Pasquantino's got two years until free agency.

One of those could theoretically be lost if the lockout continues throughout next season.

Yeah.

I think short of an extension, and nothing he's done on the field this year has screamed to the Royals, we should extend the guy.

Short of an extension, I think you have to listen because you know that there are going to be teams out there that are going to want Vinny Pasquantino if only for the reason that they feel like they would be buying low and would have an opportunity to make a positive surplus value trade.