The Royals and right-hander Brett Tomko have agreed to a minor league contract, according to a tweet from Tomko's brother, Scott. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (via Twitter) that Tomko will earn $510K if he makes the big league club. Tomko is represented by Full Circle Sports Management. Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish tweets that Tomko, who was clocked as high as 93 mph in a bullpen session today, is willing to pitch at Triple-A and did not receive any opt-out clauses in his deal.
Tomko hasn't pitched in the Majors since a brief 17 2/3 inning stint with the Rangers in 2011. The former second-round pick has accumulated 1816 innings at the Major League level, pitching to a 4.65 ERA with 6.0 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 42.1 percent ground-ball rate.
MLBTR's own Zach Links talked with the 40-year-old Tomko earlier in the offseason about his comeback bid. Said Tomko at the time: "I'll keep lacing it up until someone rips the uniform off of my back and says 'You're done.'"
The Royals' rotation is crowded with James Shields, Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Vargas and Bruce Chen as locks with Yordano Ventura, Danny Duffy and Wade Davis as candidates for the fifth slot. The bullpen took a blow recently when Luke Hochevar learned that he needs Tommy John surgery, but Kansas City still has plenty of options with Greg Holland, Aaron Crow, Tim Collins, Kelvin Herrera, Louis Coleman, Donnie Joseph and Chris Dwyer all representing options for manager Ned Yost. Whichever two of Ventura, Duffy and Davis do not make the rotation could be slotted into the bullpen as well.
This is ridiculous even if its just a minor league signing. This guy is awful. Sure wish the Glass family was willing to spend more money like Kauffman did. Sigh……….
Royals payroll is about $90M.
Of which a chunk is going to 4 years of a #5 starter basically….they “should” have some more to spend in season. I’ll give them credit… I believe they tried to make a few moves. They QO’d Santana
The issue isn’t the payroll amount, it’s the amazement that someone still trusts dm to run a team.
He is awful at this. He needs to be a scouting director. Horrible allocation of funds, horrible trades, lackluster development program, with so many young stars not reaching their potentials.
He’s awful, one of the five worst gm’s (along with dipoto, amaro, etc)
He spends money on marginal talent. I don’t hold hold him as responsible for the stalling of talent. These were all players that were highly coveted by other organizations… and I do believe Glass limits him. That said.. he has yet shown he can build a major league roster beyond a ho hum team. My issue is that they haven’t made moves to take a mid 80 win team over the threshold… and I don’t wanna hear about money… kc receives TV revenue and has spent 15years strafing the local tax base and increasing prices. They should be prepared to spend now.
This guys will never retire.
Would you, if you could make half a million dollars for six months of playing a kids’ game?
Did I say he should retire?
Tomko is the current gold standard for Guy Who Isn’t Going To Quit Until You Pry His Glove From His Cold Dead Fingers.
Even then I think he’d try and pitch without the glove
Always liked his name but not his pitching.
I would prefer the Royals sign someone with some potential for the AAA rotation, someone like Jair Jurrjens. I know a lot of people that don’t care for him but at least that kind of signing has some potential to work out, this literally has none.
What, Brad Penny wasn’t available?
Brad Penny got cut & wasnt willing to go to minors as he got lit up during spring training..
Really their nothing wrong with this signing as just dept move that all.. Geesh people need to chill the heck out & quit acting like up tight baby.
I see my joke went right over your head.
He’s the one acting like “up tight baby”?
Because that’s what people do when given a comment forum. I figure it’s good for two things..insightful commentary, and humor.
More like smallMike04
Finally! The #2 starter they need…..for Omaha.
Signed him to do what!? PITCH!?
Depth and mentoring, the old vet to show the kids how to get through the day, the month, the season. Not an unusual signing. Looks to replace Brad penny.
Mentoring Depth Coach has a nice ring to it. It’s no big deal. He eats innings at AAA and gets to keep wearing a uniform. Often nothing more to a deal like this than a favor basically. It’s a small club.
Surprised he had a WAR (on baseball-reference) as high as 1.4 as recently(?) as 2009.
As if.
Wait…. Hochevar needs Tommy John surgery? That sucks… He was finally doing well. And if I was a Royals fan I sure as heck wouldn’t want Tomko as a replacement.
Tomko isn’t replacing anybody. He’s minor league depth, nothing more.
Management already said Wade Davis was going to the bullpen immediately after the Hochevar injury, he’s not going to be the fifth starter. Nice reporting again for the Royals, MLBTR.
Just when I think the Royals know what they’re doing, they sign a 40-year-old who hasn’t pitched in three years.