Royals trade Triple-A All-Star for Frasor

The Kansas City Royals have gotten some relief help, acquiring veteran reliever Jason Frasor from the Texas Rangers for Triple-A right-hander Spencer Patton.

The trade was made Wednesday, the same day Patton was in the Triple-A All-Star game. The Rangers assigned him to Triple-A Round Rock.

Frasor was 1-1 with a 3.34 ERA in 38 appearances this season, his second in Texas. The right-hander spent nine seasons with Toronto (2004-12), returning to the Blue Jays after being traded to the White Sox in July 2011 and finishing that season in Chicago.

Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said catcher Geovany Soto will be activated from the disabled list before Friday’s game at Toronto and set for his season debut in the majors after knee surgery.

The injury-plagued Rangers (38-57) went into the All-Star break with the worst record in the major league. They were 21 games behind AL West-leading Oakland.

Daniels said the deal with the Royals is “just a good baseball trade and we like the return’’ and not any indication that Texas will start unloading potential free-agent players.

“It’s not necessarily related to anything else we may do,” Daniels said. “We’re certainly going to listen. I think the closer guys are to free agency, it’s just the more natural those conversations are to take place. ’’

AP