A Royals-White Sox rivalry trade to help Kansas City secure a postseason berth

The Kansas City Royals are a few years ahead of schedule on their rebuild, much to the delight of the front office, fans and everybody involved. I mean, the growth from last season to this season has been absolutely unimaginable for the Royals.

They lost 106 games last season. That's not a typo. They finished 56-106. Going into the All-Star break, just a year later, they've already won 52 games.

That puts the Royals in the position to buy for the first time in about a decade.

Now with that kind of turnaround, fans and media alike can become a bit impatient now that the team is in a position to compete. But they need to stay the course and trust their process of building their team rather than dumping their entire farm system for big rental players that will leave in the offseason.

They will likely be looking at controllable players or cheap rental players to add this season before the deadline.

A Royals-White Sox trade for the cheap rental outfielder they need

The Royals have begun looking into a trade for the Chicago White Sox veteran outfielder, Tommy Pham.

Pham, 36, is slashing .264/.339/.368 on the season with four home runs and ten doubles. His OPS+ is over 100 and he would be incredibly cheap to acquire at the deadline, with the White Sox certain to trade him in the coming weeks.

The Royals would still need to look into adding more offense if they want to seriously contend with the powerhouses of the league, but Pham would be a nice little upgrade over what they have there now.

A Pham trade is absolutely going to be a one for one deal with the White Sox receiving a backend top-30 prospect in somebody's farm system. Trying to pinpoint the exact prospect that the Royals would be willing to move is quite difficult, but as I looked into this, Tyson Guerrero was the name I kept landing on.

Guerrero, 25, is a bit on the older side, but he's also a bit on the developed side in terms of being a prospect. He holds a career ERA under 5.00 in pro ball and has a few solid tools. His command needs some work, as he's walked a fair bit of hitters this season, but he's a solid left handed pitcher that could end up cracking the big leagues in the next few seasons, if everything goes right.

The Royals don't need to get desperate, especially for a player like Pham. If they go after the trade and it falls into their lap, pull the trigger. But if they need to offer more than they're comfortable with, they're better off waiting and trusting their rebuild. I do love the way that Pham fits in their lineup though.