Kansas City Royals: Should They Trade Joakim Soria?

There has been some recent speculation that the Royals would be willing to trade All-Star closer Joakim Soria for the right price.

Royals GM Dayton Moore has already made some fireworks of his own this offseason when he dealt former Cy Young Winner Zack Greinke and starting shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to Milwaukee for Alcides Escobar and three prospects.

If Moore were to trade Soria, this would be another way of him showing everyone in Kansas City and the rest of the MLB that he is indeed very serious about this Royals' new youth movement.

Let's look at the pros and cons of trading away a player like Soria. We will see if giving up a young player at his caliber is worth it in the first place.

On the pro side of the trade, the Royals wouldn't have to pay his soon $4 million salary for the '11 season and could take several million dollars off their books by shipping away the talented closer.

They could also bolster an already loaded farm system with like more top-tier prospects in return for the former Rule Five draft pick.

On the other side of the coin, the Royals would be losing arguably their best pitcher on their current roster and clutch closer than can get the job done time and time again when they call his name.

Losing Soria would also mean that Moore would likely have to go after someone in free agency or bring someone up from the minors to fill his vacancy as the Royals have no other current solutions at that position at this time.

When you weigh the pros and cons of trading him, I believe that the cons easily outweigh the pros, as closers as hard to come by these days in major league baseball.

I would say that they shouldn't trade Soria, but Dayton Moore holds the key to this answer.

Stay tuned for the results.