MLB Trade Grades: Royals roll dice on former top prospect in deal with Reds

After weeks of speculation, Hot Stove season has finally kept us warm with a big-time trade.

The Kansas City Royals are looking to keep the arrow trending upward after a surprise run to the ALDS in 2024. The Cincinnati Reds, meanwhile, disappointed this past season, but still have one of the more enviable young cores in the league in place. Both teams have ample reason to add talent this winter, but neither figure to have all that much money to spend.

Which brings us to Friday night, when the Reds agreed to send infielder Jonathan India and outfielder Joey Wiemer to Kansas City in exchange for right-hander Brady Singer. Most deals typically feature two teams working on different timelines; a star on a non-contender gets flipped for prospects, or a player gets too expensive. This sort of big-leaguer for big-leaguer deal has become increasingly rare over the last few years, but there's plenty of reason to believe that both of these teams got better as a result.

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MLB trade grades: Royals, Reds address needs with Brady Singer-Jonathan India trade

Pitching is not much of a concern for K.C. right now. The trio of Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha gives the team a rock-solid foundation, and with Kyle Wright returning from injury and more help on the way down on the farm, you can understand why they were willing to part with Singer. The righty was rock-solid in 2024, posting a 3.71 ERA (114 ERA+) over 179.2 innings, but with two years of team control remaining he was likely the Royals' most valuable trade chip.

Where Kansas City very much did need help, however, was on the other side of the ball. Specifically, the team struggled to get on base, and that's an area in which India figures to be a huge help: India's .357 OBP would have ranked second on the Royals behind only Bobby Witt Jr.; K.C.'s previous second baseman, Michael Massey, was at .294. At this point, we know who India is, a just-fine defender at second who won't hit for a ton of power but will put together good at-bats and work plenty of walks.

There isn't a ton of upside here, and his offense might take a bit of a hit away from the friendly confines of Great American Ball Park. But this lineup had far too many weak spots last season, weak spots that cost them in their postseason loss to the New York Yankees. India gives them one more professional hitter to lengthen things a bit, and that should make a huge difference. Wiemer has struggled mightily at the plate throughout his big-league career, but with great defense and huge raw power, he's an understandable lottery ticket for a Royals team looking for answers in the outfield.

Where the Royals were rich in pitching, the Reds were rich in position players. With Elly De La Cruz at shortstop, Matt McLain and Christian Encarnacion-Strand returning from injury, Noelvi Marte looking to shake off a lost season and Jeimer Candelario still around, there simply wasn't room for India to get regular at-bats. Cincy's rotation, meanwhile, was short on sure things behind Hunter Greene: Nick Martinez, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Rhett Lowder and others all have potential, but between injury risk and inexperience, all of them are tough to project at league-average or better over a full workload.

The trade market wasn't chock-full of enticing pitching options, and you can understand why the Reds landed on Singer as the best fit. The righty keeps the ball on the ground with regularity (50 percent ground-ball rate), a must at GABP. And even more importantly, he's a workhorse, having pitched at least 150 innings in each of the last three seasons. I do have some concerns about Singer's inconsistency — he's alternated good years (2022, 2024) with bad ones (2021, 2023) — and his struggles against lefties will hurt more in a tougher home park, which dings Cincy's grade here a bit. Still, this is a reasonable deal for both sides, dealing from strength to address a weakness.

Kansas City Royals trade grade: B

Cincinnati Reds trade grade: C+