According to The Athletic’s Dennis Lin, the San Diego Padres have discussed trading right-handed pitcher Dinelson Lamet. The 29-year-old has been in and out of the Padres’ starting rotation the last four years due to injuries and the team’s rotation glut of late (Joe Musgrove, Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, Mike Clevinger, Sean Manaea, MacKenzie Gore and Ryan Weathers) roam the organization.

Lamet has found a considerable amount of success as a starter. He has posted strikeouts at a high clip while successfully relying on his slider. While he has held his own out of the bullpen, teams will likely inquire about Lamet as a starter. Chances are he can be had for a low return, as the Padres don’t have leverage given their rotation depth.

Here are three ideal trade destinations for Lamet.

MLB

MLB Teams Should Keep An Eye On These Pitching Trade Targets

3) Dinelson Lamet gives the Kansas City Royals a boost

Three years ago, the Royals appeared to be one of the brighter rebuilding teams in the sport. In the present, they’re a young team going nowhere. Surely, their offense has been up and down, but starting pitching has been the primary culprit for the Royals’ shortcomings. Lamet aids them in that regard.

Kansas City has a handful of starters who have flashed potential (Brad Keller, Kris Bubic and Daniel Lynch), but success has been seldom sustained. Lamet gives the Royals a strikeout pitcher in his prime and an arm to be enthused by.

  • Dinelson Lamet stats (career): 3.89 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 403 strikeouts across 310.0 innings (77 appearances, 56 starts)

Kansas City has to take a chance on somebody. Most of their noteworthy moves of late have improved the everyday order (Andrew Benintendi, Carlos Santana and Michael A. Taylor). Zack Greinke can be a veteran complement for their young pitchers, but he’s not a long-term piece to the puzzle. Getting Lamet on the cheap is worthwhile for the Royals. Worst-case scenario, he becomes a middle-of-the-rotation starter who provides length.

All that said, the Royals could prefer to acquire a more proven top-of-the-rotation starter than Lamet if they go the trade route.