With the acquisition of Johnny Cueto over the weekend, the Royals got themselves a legitimate #1 starter for the postseason. Today, they’ve reportedly turned their attention to upgrading at second base.

Source: #Royals getting #Athletics’ Zobrist.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 28, 2015

While Ben Zobrist isn’t the defensive asset he was earlier in his career, he remains one of the best hitting middle infielders in baseball, running a 125 wRC+ while posting the lowest strikeout rate of his career. Zobrist might be slowing down in the field, but there was no better way for the Royals to upgrade their offense than by swapping Zobrist in for Omar Infante.

Over the rest of the season, Zobrist projects for about a +1.5 WAR, while the Royals were projected to get just +0.3 WAR out of some combination of Infante, Christian Colon, and Dustin Coleman. Zobrist might spend some time in the outfield as well, but he should add something like one expected win to the Royals ledger over the remainder of the regular season.

Of course, the Royals already have the AL Central all but won, so the marginal value of that win isn’t particularly high. Like Cueto, Zobrist was acquired for what he can do in the postseason, and the team will certainly be significantly stronger with his presence in the line-up instead of Infante.

No precise word on the return yet, but Jeff Passan notes that the A’s are getting “two pitchers”. We’ll have a full post on the trade when the details are known.