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While the Kansas City Royals are listening to offers for starter Ervin Santana, the more likely candidate to be shipped out of Kansas City at the deadline is reliever Luke Hochevar, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. The Royals are in search of help at second base and right field, and could look to move the emerging Hochevar to fill one of those needs.
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Hochevar, 29, is under team control through next season, and could be an attractive bullpen piece for the many contenders looking to add to their bullpens at the deadline.
Heyman speculates that the Braves and Dodgers are among the teams expected to have interest in Hochevar, and the Red Sox have been scouting the right-hander, as FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reported earlier in the month.
The Royals have been scouting Boston's minor league system, according to MLBDailyDish's Joon Lee and Chris Cotillo.
Lee spoke with a scout watching Triple-A Pawtucket this week, while Cotillo learned that a Royals scout was watching Double-A Portland at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon. It is unclear which players the Royals were scouting, but most of the Red Sox' top prospects are with Portland or Pawtucket at this time.
#Royals have a scout here at Fenway to look at #RedSox and #Nationals AA teams. Makes sense considering Santana rumors, BOS/WSH w/ SP need
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) July 27, 2013
@ChrisCotillo also a scout in Pawtucket. Talked to him.
— Joon Lee (@iamjoonlee) July 28, 2013
Hochevar is 3-1 with a 1.89 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in what is by far his best season since being selected as the first overall pick in the 2006 draft.
