The Royals need another front of the rotation starter, even after acquiring Ervin Santana and Jeremy Guthrie. With a $70MM “soft” salary cap (which many argue is too low), the Royals say they’re willing to trade top outfield prospect Wil Myers for starting pitching. Names such as Tampa Bay’s James Shields and Boston’s Jon Lester have come up, but so far they’re nothing more than rumors. But is trading a top offensive prospect for starting pitching a good idea in the first place?

If it’s for Shields or Lester, no. Yes, they are good pitchers and better than anyone in the Royals rotation, including Santana and Guthrie. But they’re not worth Wil Myers trade value.

Both Shields and Lester will be free agents in 2014. If Myers stays with the Royals, he’ll likely be a free agent until 2019. Then there’s money. Shields will make $9MM in 2013 and has a $12MM team option. Lester will make $11.6MM in 2013 and has a $13MM team option. Myers will make much less.

Shields pitched 227.2 innings in 33 starts, had a 3.52 ERA with a 3.84 strikeout to walk ratio. Lester pitched 205.1 innings in 33 starts, had a 4.82 ERA with a 2.44 strikeout to walk ratio. Shields is 30 and Lester is 28, but between the two, Shields appears the one most likely to improve. Both pitchers are good and would be an asset to the Royals rotation, but not for Myers.

Now if the Tampa Rays are willing to deal David Price or Jeremy Hellickson for Myers, that might be a good trade. Price is a Super Two player, which makes him arbitration eligible in 2013 and a free agent in 2016. Hellickson is arbitration eligible in 2014 and a free agent in 2017.  Price made $4.35MM in 2012 and Hellickson made $489,500 in 2012, so they’re very affordable and would be under club control for at least a few years.

But I don’t see a trade like that happening. Price was a 20 game winner, pitching 211.0 innings over 31 starts with a 2.16 ERA and a 3.47 strikeout to walk ratio. And he was the American League Cy Young Award winner for 2012. Hellickson was no slouch, pitching 177.0 innings over 31 starts with a 3.10 ERA and a 2.10 strikeout to walk ratio. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2011.

Of the two, the Rays might trade Hellickson for Myers straight up, but to get Price the Royals would probably have to throw in another high level prospect like a Jake Odorizzi or Jason Adam. And the Rays aren’t rebuilding, so there’s no good reason for them to give up starting pitching for prospects.

If the Royals are so bent on trading for a starting pitcher, maybe they should consider Chicago Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija. Jeff Samardzija? To be honest, I didn’t know much about him either. But Samardzija was the ace of the Cubs, pitching 174.2 innings in 28 starts with a 3.81 ERA and a 3.21 strikeout to walk ratio. Sure, being the ace of the 61-101 Cubs isn’t that impressive. But Samardzija made $2.64MM in 2012, is arbitration eligible in 2013 and a free agent in 2016.

And the best thing is the Royals won’t have to trade Myers to get Samardzija (unless they’re very stupid, which is possible). The Royals could give the Cubs someone like Mike Montgomery or Cheslor Cuthbert for Samardzija and jettison or trade Luke Hochevar to pay Samardzija’s salary. The Royals still have money left to get a free agent pitcher like a Shaun Marcum or Anibal Sanchez. And Myers can take Jeff Francoeur‘s place in right field in 2013. Sounds like a good deal to me.

The Royals’ separation from Frank White feels all too much like a divorce, and we fans are the children, helplessly caught in the middle. There are always two sides to every story. We’ve heard only a little of what certainly must be a bigger, uglier situation. White was too negative. The Royals wanted to get rid of him for a long time. Come on. That’s it?

At the moment, it’s very tempting to want to side with White. Looking back at the way he’s been treated by the franchise over the years, it’s hard not to think that he was used, abused, unappreciated and passed over time and again by the Royals, until finally they decided they had no more need for him.

He was unceremoniously released at the end of his career, allowed to slip away to coach in Boston, passed over for managerial positions at least twice, and forced into retirement from the front office when it conflicted with his broadcast duties.

White has meant so much to KC over these many years, it’s unfathomable that they would just divorce him. He’s among the greatest players in team history, and easily the second most important face of the franchise. Only George Brett means more to KC, and he isn’t nearly as willing to get out and shill for the company as White was.

I’ve interacted a couple of times with Frank White at Royals’ fan events. And while most of the current players are cold, stand-offish and colorless, White embraced every fan with a smile, handshake and kind conversation. His warmth and down-to-earth friendliness will be missed. His lifelong connection with the city is something that will probably never be duplicated.

The Royals may have felt they had acquired some new measure of goodwill from the 2011 infusion of talent and decided to strike while the iron was hot. Like a marriage, they decided to get out while the getting was good.

But while it looks so easy to side with White, who knows what else was going on Nearly every divorce involves two parties with at least some degree of guilt. White’s supposed on-air “negativity” was the sole reason given for his firing. Could it be there was some kind of insubordination or disruption the Royals decide to no longer tolerate?

We’ll probably never know the whole truth. But like the children watching the parents they love divorce, the fans are forced to mourn and wonder why it had to happen.

One of the last links to the great Royals teams of the past is now an “ex.” His name will come up from time to time, but his role in our lives will forever be changed. And like children in a divorce, we’re helpless to do anything about it.

Well, make it six out of 10.

Sorry, Aaron Crow. Hope you enjoyed that free plane ride to Arizona.

Royals fans and your friends from Topeka are all proud of you. But I guess we shouldn’t have gotten our hopes up that you would actually play in this year’s All-Star Game.

After all, six of the last 10 Royals to be named to the All-Star Game have failed to leave the bench.

American League manager Ron Washington did about as well as he could to utilize his full compliment of pitchers. No pitcher went more than a single inning. But when the AL didn’t have to pitch the ninth, Crow was left without need of a shower.

Three other pitchers who were available on the AL bench did not play – Detroit’s Jose Valverde, Toronto’s Ricky Romero and Boston’s Josh Beckett. Beckett complained of discomfort when he warmed up, or he would have played.

For another year we’ll assume there was no malice behind the decision to keep Crow on the bench. No need to suspect a plot to discriminate against the Royals is afoot.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

But still, this is getting old.

The debate about who should be traded or kept is starting to boil in Kansas City. The team has been fielding lots of calls over the last few weeks. This trend is not going to change anytime soon as the deadline nears. The most written about players on the block are David DeJesus, Jose Guillen, and Kyle Farnsworth.

A quick update of what we have heard so far. Guillen is being pushed hard by the team. The Royals are willing to take on most of his remaining salary. Guillen has been hitting well, getting on base a ton and staying healthy for the most part. It is likely he will be gone by the deadline.

DeJesus is the most talked about player. It seems like every team wants to ad DeJesus to their club. Scouts have been following the team for something like a month now. The favorites to acquire David are Boston and San Fran. I say this because the Royals have reportedly been seen scouting both clubs. The Royals are said to be holding on to DeJesus until closer to the deadline.

Farnsworth is being talked about because he is a relief arm and well teams can always use another relief arm. He is getting a ton of ground outs this season as well as strikeouts, all of which are making him look pretty good to teams needing arm depth. His contract only has about $2 million left for 2010. He also has a option for 2011 that he void if traded. If he does not void that option he will be on the books for around $5 million for 2011.

The team has several other players that could be and should be moved before the deadline while their value is high. This list in my mind includes several players that many are not talking about. This list first includes players that are going to be free agents next year who are playing well. The top of this list for me include Bruce Chen and Willie Bloomquist.

It is said that teams are calling about Bloomquist who can play all over the place. Bloomquist has said he wants to stay with the Royals but trading him at the deadline with hopes of resigning him is the best move for the team in my mind. The same plan should be followed with Chen. Chen has seen somewhat of a rebirth in KC after being picked up on only a minor league deal at the start of the season. He is pitching better and better with almost every start. Chen could see bidding for his services in the off-season if he continues to pitch well for the rest of the season, which is bad news for the Royals. Chen could become the pitcher of choice if the first tier pitchers can not be had by a contender.

The next players on my list are players with a club option for next year. This list includes Rick Ankiel and Scott Podsednik. Ankiel needs to show that he stay healthy before he has any real trade value but in my eyes to get his contract off the books would be a good move since he has had some many injury problems this season. Podsednik is one of those players that if a good offer came across the desk I would not be sad to see him leave but to give him away just because is uncalled for.

The segment of the list consist of players that will arbitration players next year. This list includes Luke Hochevar, Josh Rupe, Billy Butler, Brayan Pena, and Josh Fields all going for the first time. Robinson Tejeda and Alex Gordon going for the second time. Lastly Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies and Brad Thompson all going for a third time. This list of players get to be a little tricky when deciding if they should be traded. You first must look at what their projected arbitration salary will be before you do anything. If the salary that the player might earn is above what you believe their talent level is then they must be traded in my mind. I have almost the same view with Butler but on the other hand I think Butler could return some solid talent back to the team in a trade. Butler I say keep unless you are blown away. I want to say the same thing about Gordon too but with young talent in minors at third Gordon could be expendable. Bannister is the best player to trade in this group. Bannister, like Chen, could see teams looking at him once they miss out on the first tier of pitchers are off the market.

I will say that if I were the man in charge in Kansas City I would be asking for players that are already in the majors or less than a year away talent as my starting point. I think the Royals can come away like thieves if are willing to take on the salary of players that they are trading. This year many teams are trying to make it over the hump into the playoffs but have limited budgets.

So, after the dust settles after the deadline I would like to see Bannister, DeJesus, Guillen, Farnsworth, Ankiel, Podsednik, Chen, and Bloomquist gone. I think these eight players could return 4 major league or major league ready players and several lower level projects.