Royals Review Roundtable: The trade deadline approaches

The Royals draft is in the rearview window. The August 2 trade deadline is fast approaching.

Royals Review Roundtable is discussing the draft and the trade deadline.

Cullen Jekel liked the draft, except what they did in the first round. Gavin Cross was only the fifth or sixth best prospect available at No. 9. He would have preferred Kevin Parada, Jace Jung or Cam Collier. The rest of the strategy, selecting mostly college players, he liked.

Jeremy Greco is generally for drafting college players, especially college hitters. He thinks that drafting a superstar is a fool's errand. Jeremy Grecos thinks it's better to fill your roster with reasonably good players that you might be able to afford to keep.

Royals draft Gavin Cross and Cayden Wallace. Cregwalker would have liked to have drafted them on day one. He liked the overall approach of taking college players.

Max Rieper thinks the draft was safe. Gavin Cross has a good chance of making the big leagues by 2024. The rest of the picks are meh.

The Royals are close to the trade deadline.

Cullen Jekel is confident in Benintendi. Taylor, Merrifield and Keller are under contract for at least another season.

The Royals are close to the trade deadline. Whit Merrifield is probably gone. Benintendi is a no-brainer. Scott Barlow is still valuable.

The Royals are close to the trade deadline. Cregwalker is certain Andrew Benintendi will be traded. Whit Merrifield needs to be, but he hasn't happened yet. Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont, Michael A. Taylor, and Cam Gallagher are less likely to get traded than Hunter Dozier.

Whit Merrifield, Andrew Benintendi, Michael A. Taylor, Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher, and Scott Barlow might be sold.

Royals Review Roundtable is looking forward to the second half of the season.

Max Rieper likes the Royals' young players. Max thinks the team could have a mostly under-30-year-old lineup by August.

Royals have a position crunch. Pratto, Pasquantino, Melendez, O’Hearn, and Dozier play the same type of position. Melezand can also catch.

Royals Review Roundtable is discussing the trade deadline. Cregwalker is looking forward to watching Nick Pratto and Vinnie Pasquantino play.

Jeremy Greco is looking forward to seeing more of the young players after the deadline deals are done. Jeremy Grecos is excited about watching Massey, Eaton, and Pratto play in Toronto.

Royals Review Roundtable is discussing the upcoming trade deadline.

Bobby Witt Jr. is improving at the plate. He will finish the season as a 20/20 player but lose out on the American League Rookie of the Year Award to Julio Rodriguez.

Royals' team wRC+ is 103 since the first month of the season. They will finish with a team WRC+. of at least 100 for the 1st time since 2011.

Max Rieper predicts the Royals will play around 70-72 wins the rest of the season.

Jeremy Greco predicts that the Royals will continue to improve their hitting but still struggle with the pitching. Cal Eldred will get fired and the team will hire someone with better leadership, analytic, communication, and planning skills. The team should look fantastic in September.