The Royals upgrade their outfield depth in a trade with the Athletics

Billy Burns is expected to begin his Royals' tenure at the Triple-A level

The Royals on Saturday announced that they acquired outfielder Billy Burns from the Athletics in exchange for outfielder Brett Eibner.

Burns, 26, has a plus glove in center and owns a career OPS+ of 86 with 43 stolen bases in 211 games. He's struggled at the plate in 2016, which is perhaps why the Royals will start him off in Triple-A. As well, Lorenzo Cain recently came off the disabled list.

Burns won't be eligible for salary arbitration until before the 2018 season at the earliest, and the earliest he'll be eligible for free agency is after the 2020 season. Given the Royals' possible upcoming losses on the market, getting a controllable outfielder with the potential to be a regular is the driving appeal.

As for Eibner, he's 27 but has significantly less major-league service time than does Burns. He hasn't hit in 26 games with the Royals, but the corner defender has a solid enough .774 OPS in parts of six minor-league seasons. At best, though, he profiles as a bench player at the highest level.