The Five Most Important Trades in Kansas City Royals' History

With the Royals having failed to make a memorable trade in what seems like forever, it’s appropriate to look back through 40 years of Royals' history and remember the trades that made the big news in the organization's history.

Once upon a time, the Royals were a "model organization", one of the best run teams in the major leagues, from both business and baseball standpoints.

General managers like Lou Gorman, Cedric Tallis, and John Schuerholz built teams that were the envy of the rest of the major leagues, and did it so quickly that the Royals, unlike most expansion teams, never really went through an "awful" phase and were competitive by their third season. By their eighth, in 1976, the Royals would win their division and start a decade of excellence that ended with a World Championship.

Much of that Royals' dynasty was made through shrewd trades. 

This article isn’t necessarily to pinpoint the five best trades in Royals' history; that would be another article, and only two of the five trades here would be listed. Rather, this article's purpose is to try to pinpoint the five trades that served as signposts in the rise and fall of the Royals' organization. 

And with that, here we go:

April 1, 1969: Royals Obtain Lou Piniella from the Seattle Pilots for John Gelnar and Steve Whitaker

This trade set the pattern for a couple of decades of trades, as Royals' GMs found underused players elsewhere and virtually stole them. Piniella had bounced around the Cleveland, Washington, and Baltimore organizations without getting much MLB playing time, also acquiring a reputation as a troublemaker (in retrospect, probably not an inaccurate one). 

Seattle was looking to dump Piniella and seek MLB experienced players. Gelnar would give them two very mediocre seasons of relief, and Whitaker would only play 85 more Major League games. Piniella became the Royals’ first legitimate star, winning Rookie of the Year in 1969 and hitting over .300 two of his four seasons in Kansas City. After the 1973 season, Piniella was dealt to the Yankees with Ken Wright for relief pitcher Lindy McDaniel.

December 3, 1969:  Royals Obtain Amos Otis and Bob Johnson from the New York Mets for Joe Foy

Cedric Tallis may have been charged with theft after this one. 

In “A.O.”, the Royals had the first cornerstone of the championship dynasty. Otis was a talent that the Mets had no idea how to utilize; they had even tried him at third base before giving up on him. Otis would go on to play in four All-Star games, win three Gold Gloves, and finish as high as fourth in MVP voting as a member of the Royals. 

Foy, meanwhile, played 99 games for the Mets in 1970, 41 for the 1971 Senators, and was done. Johnson went 8-13 with a respectable 3.07 ERA for the Royals in 1970, then was a key piece of the trade that brought Freddie Patek and Bruce Dal Canton to the Royals for the 1971 season.

May 16, 1976: Royals Obtain Larry Gura from the Yankees for Fran Healy

This trade, Sparky Lyle claimed in his book (The Bronx Zoo), was the product of Billy Martin’s temperament. Martin became agitated after seeing Gura headed off to play tennis, because he thought tennis was less than a manly game. The Royals didn’t mind; when Gura, a lefty relief pitcher, became available, they gladly sent backup catcher Fran Healy to New York.

This might have been the most lopsided trade in Royals' history. Plugged into the starting rotation in 1978, Gura would go on to win 111 games with 78 losses during the Royals’ glory decade. 

Healy, meanwhile, made it off the Yankees’ bench 78 times from the time of the trade through 1978 before retiring. This may have been the last really great trade in building the dynasty.

March 27, 1987: Royals Send David Cone and Chris Jelic to the Mets for Ed Hearn, Mauro Gozzo, and Rick Anderson

The tide began to turn with this trade.  Jelic, Gozzo, and Anderson were afterthoughts at the time, and afterthoughts they stayed; this deal was really Cone for Hearn. 

With this deal, the Mets finally got revenge for the Otis trade. In defense of John Schuerholz, Cone was but a very promising pitcher at a time when the Royals' rotation included Bret Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza, Charlie Liebrandt, Danny Jackson, and Buddy Black. Still, that’s a poor defense for giving up a future Cy Young winner in exchange for a catcher who had played 49 MLB games prior to the trade and only 13 in a Royals' uniform due to injury. 

This trade was as bad for the Royals as Gura-for-Healy was good for them.

June 24, 2004:  Royals Send Carlos Beltran to the Astros for Mark Teahen, John Buck, and Mike Wood

When small market teams must trade stars, it’s critical that they replace them with other star-level prospects. Allard Baird had failed to do this with Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye, and by 2004, the Royals had one great bargaining chip left—Beltran. 

Baird had one more chance, and he blew it. Beltran was dealt away for Mike Wood, who was at best a serviceable pitcher for a couple of years; John Buck, quite possibly the worst starting catcher in MLB; and Mark Teahen. When Teahen is the success story of a trade, you know it was bad; Teahen has been a versatile but mediocre player for the Royals since the trade. 

The Royals cupboard has been bare of true All-Stars since the Beltran trade, with the exception of Zack Grienke. Thankfully, Grienke is signed to a long term contract and is unlikely to be dealt anytime soon.

Of course, there are other trades that Royals fans might point to as decisive turns for the franchise, and they’d have a great argument. The deals that brought Hal McRae, Cookie Rojas, and John Mayberry to Kansas City were fantastic deals in the spirit of the Piniella and Otis trades. On the flip side, Royals fans point to the trades dealing Bret Saberhagen, Dye, and Damon as being horrendous for the organization (I’ve never been convinced that the Saberhagen trade was that bad). 

It’s unlikely that any pivotal deals will be made this year. 

Royals officials are reportedly frustrated over the lack of substantial interest in David DeJesus and Teahen, to which I would respond—those players are decidedly average, and perhaps below average, depending on the position. 

Absent Grienke and Soria, the cupboard is bare of real blockbuster trade material—so this list will likely stand as the five most pivotal trades in Royals' history for some time.