Robinson Tejeda has elected to become a free agent, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link). The right-hander was designated for assignment by the Royals in May and spent the rest of the season pitching for Triple-A Omaha.
In seven Major League seasons with the Phillies, Rangers and Royals, Tejeda has a career ERA of 4.42 in 186 games (53 of them starts). Tejeda, 29, has averaged 7.6 K/9 in his career but has also had control problems, walking five batters per nine innings. Given his decent lifetime numbers and solid minor league campaign for Omaha this year, Tejeda is a likely candidate for a minor league deal from a club in search of bullpen help.
Tejeda earned $1.55MM in 2011 after signing an arbitration-avoiding one-year contract with the Royals in the offseason. The righty still has one year of arbitration eligibility remaining.
