Royals’ Wade Davis drawing trade interest

The Royals’ Wade Davis is drawing interest from teams, according to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball. Heyman notes that the Royals have yet to pick up Davis’ option for 2017, which is worth $10 million, but that’s a formality at this point. There has been no word on which teams are interested.

The Royals are expected to reduce payroll in 2017. Trading Davis, or even letting him walk, would reduce the payroll significantly as he is one of the highest paid players on the roster at the moment.

Davis began his career as a starter but did not experience much success there. In his last season with the Rays in 2012, he pitched primarily out of the bullpen and recorded a 2.43 ERA in 54 games and 70.1 innings pitched.

He began his Royals career similarly in 2013, starting off as a starter before transitioning to the bullpen. Between 2014 and 2016, Davis recorded a 1.18 ERA in 182.2 innings pitched and 185 games.

Davis spent some of 2016 recovering from a flexor strain, which he says he might have rushed back from according to the Kansas City Star, leading to another stint on the disabled list with a recurrence of the injury.

Though Davis is now 31 and recently faced an injury, it shouldn’t take away from Davis’ value as an elite reliever on the market. A fully healthy Davis is still worth as much as Mark Melancon and Kenley Jansen and is certainly worth much more than Santiago Casilla.