Herrera on being traded: A moment ‘I was not expecting’

KC Royals: Column

A carefree Kelvin Herrera was at his locker in the Royals clubhouse on Monday at Kauffman Stadium preparing for their game against Texas when manager Ned Yost summoned him into his office for a meeting with general manager Dayton Moore.

Considering the prime directive of the Royals right now is to replenish the farm system and whittle down payroll, given that they were 22-49 at game time and that Herrera is one of the best closers in baseball, what came next seemed inevitable to about anyone who follows the Royals and baseball.

Herrera, though, was stunned to be given the news he had been traded, Moore said, almost to the point where he felt blindsided.

You can call that living in denial or being naive about the business he’s in, but mostly you can call it for what it is: the profound sorrow of leaving the organization that signed him as a 16-year-old in the Dominican Republic — through a charmed blend of hustle and happenstance — and led him to a certain magical turn in his life.

It’s easy to be cynical about the money in sports and the “spoiled” athlete, but the truth is that it’s always about a lot more than that in any locker room or clubhouse — especially ones that have shared everything on the spectrum of emotions and achievements and heartbreaks.

“It’s been an amazing journey with Kelvin,” said Moore, adding that Herrera’s “great heart” had left him saddened in trading him to Washington for minor league prospects Kelvin Gutierrez, Blake Perkins and Yohanse Morel.

Part of Moore’s sorrow no doubt came from what he absorbed in delivering the news to Herrera, who an hour or so after learning he was no longer with the organization met with the media outside the press box.

“This is a moment that I was not expecting,” said Herrera, his eyes misting up and adding, “This is a moment that I never, like, want to see it.”

Moore said Herrera had perked up at being reminded of what it felt like to compete in two World Series for the Royals and knowing that he’d now have a chance to be part of something special with the Nationals.

In that limbo between leaving here and being there, though, Herrera couldn’t quite be all-in on that notion.

“It’s always fun (to compete for championships), but I was born and raised as a player here and this is tough right now,” said Herrera, who repeatedly thanked Royals fans and the Royals “for the opportunity they (gave) me to achieve my dreams.”

For a notion of how improbable his dream was, let’s go back to December 2006 in the Dominican.

Just months after Moore took over as general manager and made Latin American scouting a fresh priority, Herrera was among the last of dozens and dozens of pitchers to audition at an open tryout with the Royals.

When Herrera finished his workout, a scout scrambled to find Rene Francisco, the director of international operations.

“‘Hey, there’s a kid who’s going to leave, he’s getting in the car, but you guys need to see him,’” Francisco told me he remembered in 2015. “So we walked out, and they were actually leaving in the car.”