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Rangers Acquire Aroldis Chapman

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The Rangers made a significant bullpen addition Friday evening, announcing the acquisition of Aroldis Chapman from the Royals. Left-hander Cole Ragans and rookie ball outfielder Roni Cabrera are going to Kansas City.

Chapman had a strong few months in Royal blue. Kansas City signed the seven-time All-Star to a $3.75MM free agent guarantee, buying low after a rough final season in the Bronx. Chapman had posted a 4.46 ERA in his final year with the Yankees and was left off their playoff roster after missing a team workout. He returned to quality high-leverage work after the change of scenery.

The hard-throwing southpaw owns a 2.45 ERA over 29 1/3 innings in 31 appearances. He’s striking out an eye-popping 43.4% of opponents, his highest rate since 2020. Among relievers with 20+ frames, only Orioles closer Félix Bautista is fanning hitters at a better clip. Chapman ranks eighth among that group in whiffs, picking up swinging strikes on 17.8% of his offerings.

Chapman doesn’t throw quite as hard as he had during his days with the Reds, but he’s still the hardest-throwing southpaw in the sport. He’s averaging 99.4 MPH on his four-seam fastball and throwing his slider at an 88.2 MPH clip. Both are up a couple ticks relative to last season’s level, explaining his bounceback in whiffs. Chapman has overpowered hitters from both sides of the plate, holding lefties to a .211 batting average without an extra-base hit and right-handers to a .146 average and .183 slugging mark.

The sole concern with Chapman’s production this season is inconsistent strike-throwing. He has walked 16.4% of opponents, a rate topped by only five relievers with at least 20 innings. It has been a boom-or-bust profile, with nearly three-fifths of hitters going down on strikes or taking a free pass.

Texas rolls the dice on the scattershot control to inject some needed swing-and-miss to the relief corps. Rangers relievers enter play Friday ranked 19th in MLB with a 23.1% strikeout percentage. They’re 24th with a 4.37 ERA. Texas ranks second in rotation ERA and leads the majors in run-scoring. The bullpen stood out as the obvious priority for GM Chris Young and his staff entering trade season, and they’ve started by landing one of the best relievers available.

Chapman joins Will Smith, Josh Sborz and Brock Burke in the high-leverage mix. Sborz and Smith have been excellent, while rookie Grant Anderson is off to a nice start to his MLB career. There’s still room for another addition at the back end, particularly a right-hander.

Texas will certainly further add to the roster over the coming weeks. As an impending free agent reliever, Chapman was never going to require them to dip deep into the farm system. He’s also an affordable pickup; the Rangers assume just under $2MM in remaining salary.

They’ll add a little more in incentives, as Chapman will receive $312,500 for every fifth appearance between 35 and 55 outings. Triggering all those bonuses, as he’s on pace to do, would tack on another $1.563MM. He’d land a matching $312,500 for every fourth game finished between 12 and 40; he has finished nine games thus far.

Those are relatively small margins for an aggressive Texas club. The Rangers are spending just under $201MM on player payroll, as calculated by Roster Resource. They’re up to around $224MM in luxury tax obligations, placing them roughly $9MM south of the $233MM base threshold. The Rangers have never paid the competitive balance tax, but owner Ray Davis has signed off on aggressive spending sprees in each of the past two winters to quickly push the club to the top of the AL West.

The Royals are at the opposite end of the spectrum, one of a handful of teams that are certain to miss the postseason. Kansas City has shown a willingness to sell off pieces early if they’re out of contention. They dealt Carlos Santana to the Mariners around this time last season. Chapman was rumored to be available by early June.

In Ragans, Kansas City got a pitcher they like enough to jump on a Chapman deal a few weeks early. The 25-year-old is an upper level arm who could factor into the rotation this year. The 30th overall pick in the 2016 draft, he has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past two seasons.

Ragans made nine starts last year, working to a 4.95 ERA in 40 innings. He has pitched in relief this season, tallying 24 1/3 frames of 5.92 ERA ball out of the bullpen. Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweets that K.C. will send Ragans to Triple-A to build back up as a starter with an eye towards a second-half return to the big leagues.

The 6’4″ southpaw has yet to find MLB success. Alongside the mediocre ERA, he has a below-average 18.2% strikeout rate and slightly elevated 10.7% walk percentage. He owns a solid 3.64 ERA in five minor league seasons, though, striking out 29.6% of opponents along the way. His fastball has averaged a little north of 96 MPH in short stints — well above last year’s 92.1 MPH average speed out of the rotation — and prospect evaluators have long credited him with a potential plus changeup.

Whether Ragans will stick as a starter remains to be seen. Kansas City can give him some runway. The Royals’ rotation ranks 27th with a 5.43 ERA. Ragans is in his first of three minor league option seasons and won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2025-26 offseason at the earliest. If he develops as hoped, he could work as an affordable back-end starter at Kauffman Stadium in the near future.

Cabrera is much further off. A native of the Dominican Republic, he’s a right-handed hitting outfielder who has spent the past two seasons in the Dominican Summer League. He turns 18 next month and won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until after the 2026 season. Keith Law of the Athletic writes that Cabrera has some power potential and projects as a corner outfielder.

This evening’s swap is the start of what’ll likely be multiple moves of this ilk from both teams. Texas could add more bullpen help and perhaps augment the corner outfield or rotation depth. Kansas City figures to listen to offers on closer Scott Barlow and could take calls on rentals like Zack Greinke and Matt Duffy.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Royals Expected To Recall Alec Marsh For MLB Debut

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The Royals plan to promote right-hander Alec Marsh to start tomorrow’s series opener against the Dodgers, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com. He draws in for Jordan Lyles, who is under the weather.

It’s the first MLB call for Marsh. Kansas City selected the 6’2″ hurler 70th overall in the 2019 draft out of Arizona State. Marsh has ranked around the middle tier of a generally thin K.C. farm system. Baseball America recently slotted him 11th among organizational prospects, while Keith Law of the Athletic placed him 20th coming into the year.

Marsh was coming off a brutal 2022 showing in Double-A, when huge home run issues led to a 7.32 ERA over 25 starts. Prospect evaluators still credited him with swing-and-miss potential on a low-mid 90s fastball and an above-average to plus slider. The Royals added him to the 40-man roster last offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft despite the poor numbers.

The 25-year-old has found a little better results this time around. Over 11 starts with Double-A Northwest Arkansas, he posted a 5.32 ERA. Marsh got the homers in check and struck out a solid 26.4% of opponents but walked more than 11% of batters faced. He has similar strikeout and walk marks in three starts since being bumped up to Triple-A Omaha, where he’s allowed just four runs in 15 innings.

It’s possible this is just a spot start necessitated by Lyles’ illness. Kansas City hasn’t gotten much production out of its rotation overall, though, so there should be other opportunities for Marsh to work his way back in the relatively near future if he shows well in Omaha.

Royals’ Owner: “Total Confidence” In GM J.J. Picollo, Manager Matt Quatraro

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Entering play Thursday at just 22-58, the Royals have the second-worst record in Major League Baseball, narrowly leading an Athletics team that has aggressively torn down its roster amid payroll cuts and efforts to restock the farm system. Unlike their floundering AL West counterparts, Kansas City did not enter the season in the early stages of a rebuild and with such minimal expectations. The Royals did recently push for a somewhat accelerated retooling period, but they added several veterans for a second straight offseason and at least hoped to keep afloat in a weak division. No one viewed the Royals as contenders heading into the year, but this level of struggle was not expected either.

Brutal as the Royals’ season has been, owner John Sherman today voiced “total confidence” in first-year general manager J.J. Picollo and rookie manager Matt Quatraro, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com (Twitter links). Of course, that doesn’t mean Sherman considers the 2023 season acceptable — far from it. Said the Royals’ CEO: “I feel accountable for where we are right now with our baseball team. We are committed to do what it takes to return to form. … This is a real year of evaluation, and that evaluation right now is painful.”

Picollo is still new to the top spot in the baseball operations hierarchy but has been with the Royals organization since 2006, when he was hired as the team’s director of player development. Quatraro, meanwhile, is in his first year with the club after previously serving as an assistant hitting coach in Cleveland and as a third base coach and bench coach with Tampa Bay.

The Royals fired president of baseball operations Dayton Moore back in September and elevated Picollo in his place. Moore had been one of the longest-tenured baseball operations leaders in the sport, originally ascending to the position of general manager in 2006. The Royals gave him a title bump to president of baseball ops in 2021, simultaneously promoting Picollo from assistant general manager to GM.

Picollo has had baseball operations autonomy for less than a year, but the moves made this past offseason generally haven’t panned out. A two-year deal for Jordan Lyles has thus far produced disastrous results (6.68 ERA in 91 2/3 innings). Zack Greinke again returned to Kansas City on a one-year deal and had been pitching as a capable innings eater, though a recent trio of rough starts has pushed his ERA north of 5.00. The signing of lefty Ryan Yarbrough is tougher to judge, as he’s been out nearly two months after being struck in the head by a comebacker.

To Picollo’s credit, the Royals’ low-cost investment in former Yankees stopper Aroldis Chapman has worked out as well as one could’ve hoped. The 35-year-old’s fastball velocity has rebounded to its highest level since 2017, and his 42.9% strikeout rate is his highest mark in a 162-game season since 2018. The southpaw’s 16.8% walk rate is still far too high, but command issues have long been an part of the Chapman experience. As it stands, he’s a slam-dunk trade candidate and could net Kansas City some minor league talent of note between now and the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

Lackluster performance from the Royals’ offseason additions are only a small part of the team’s 2023 woes, of course. Much of their recent rebuilding effort staked its hopes on developing polished college pitchers —  with a heavy emphasis on that in the 2018 draft — but those efforts have yet to bear fruit.

Brady Singer looked like he’d broken out with an outstanding 2022 season, but he’s regressed in alarming fashion this year, pitching to a 5.88 ERA with worrying negative trends in his strikeout rate, walk rate and velocity. Fellow college arms Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar, Kris Bubic, Jonathan Heasley and Asa Lacy haven’t developed as hoped. On the position-player side of things, youngsters like MJ Melendez, Michael Massey, Nate Eaton, Samad Taylor and Kyle Isbel have all struggled at the big league level in 2023.

As for Quatraro, while Royals fans surely can’t be pleased with the on-field results in his first year on the job, the roster composition is such that no skipper could be reasonably expected to have coaxed passable results from this group. Managers are evaluated based on far more than sheer wins and losses anyhow — arguably more so than ever in today’s game.

Based on recent history, Sherman’s comments are wholly unsurprising. There’s little to no recent precedent for a general manager or first-year manager being on the hot seat just three months into his first season on the job. Details of Picollo’s contract remain unclear, but the organization signed him to a multi-year extension late in the 2021 season. Granted, Moore was also extended and promoted at that point, but he’d had a 16-year runway as baseball ops leader by the time he was dismissed; Picollo has been in his current role for just nine months. Quatraro, meanwhile, signed a three-year deal that runs through the 2025 season and has a club option for the 2026 campaign.

If the Royals are to turn things around in the near future, they’ll need a lot of help from a farm system that entered the year ranked in the bottom half of the league — as low as 29th at both Baseball America and MLB.com. Picollo will have the opportunity to add to that system over the next month when he markets Chapman and presumably closer Scott Barlow, but the underwhelming performances from many of Kansas City’s veteran players leaves the Royals without many trade chips to dangle to contending clubs.

Royals’ Josh Taylor To Undergo Lower Back Surgery

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Royals reliever Josh Taylor will undergo surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The team hasn’t provided a recovery timetable.

Taylor has been on the injured list for a month while battling a shoulder impingement. The back issue apparently arose during his rehab process. Taylor missed the entire 2022 campaign as he battled a lower back strain.

It’s obviously an unfortunate setback that makes it seem likely he’ll find himself on the 60-day injured list once the club needs a 40-man roster spot. A 60-day IL transfer could be backdated to the time of his initial placement even though he’s now dealing with a separate injury.

Kansas City acquired the southpaw over the offseason in a swap that sent Adalberto Mondesí to the Red Sox. The deal hasn’t worked for either team, as both players have battled injuries. Mondesí still hasn’t played for Boston as he works back from last year’s ACL tear. Taylor has made 17 appearances for K.C. but been tagged for 16 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings. He has struck out just under 32% of opposing hitters, an excellent clip, but nine walks and four homers contributed to the inflated ERA.

This is Taylor’s second season of arbitration eligibility. He’s making $1.025MM this year and eligible for the process twice more. An extended absence would increase the odds of Kansas City non-tendering him next offseason, though it’s unclear precisely how long he’ll be out.

Red Sox Acquire Andres Nunez From Royals

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The Red Sox have acquired right-hander Andres Núñez from the Royals, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The return for the Royals isn’t listed, suggesting it’s likely a cash deal. Núñez wasn’t on a 40-man roster, so no corresponding moves will be necessary. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Worcester.

Núñez, 27, was selected by the Royals in the 29th round of the 2018 draft. The reliever has been quite effective in the minors but has seen his results take a step back this year. In 2018 and 2019, he posted a combined 2.43 ERA in 77 2/3 innings, pitching in Rookie ball and Single-A. The minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020 and Nunez has been in the upper levels since. He split 2021 between Double-A and Triple-A with a combined 3.98 ERA that year, then had a solid 3.61 ERA mark in Triple-A last year.

Here in 2023, however, things have generally gone in an unfavorable direction with a 6.66 ERA through 24 1/3 innings. He’s allowed a .355 batting average on balls in play and has a 59.6% strand rate, which could point to some bad luck. On the other hand, he generally ran strikeout rates of 25-30% in previous seasons but is down to 17.5% this year. Similarly, his walk rate has jumped to 12.3% after being much lower in previous seasons.

Those poor results have apparently prompted the Royals to accept some cash and move on, while the Sox clearly believe they can get him back on track. He’ll head to Worcester and give the club some extra bullpen depth in Triple-A. He’s yet to crack a 40-man roster but will be eligible for the upcoming Rule 5 draft if not added ahead of time.

Mike Mayers Accepts Outright Assignment With Royals

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Right-hander Mike Mayers has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Omaha, the Royals announced. He went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment over the weekend.

Mayers will stick in the Kansas City organization. He signed a minor league deal with K.C. last December. They selected him onto the big league club in mid-May. The 31-year-old carried only a 6.88 ERA over eight Triple-A starts at the time, but the Royals needed another multi-inning arm for the MLB staff.

He pitched well over his first few appearances following the promotion. Mayers allowed just two runs in 13 1/3 innings over a trio of games. He surrendered four-plus runs in five or fewer innings in his next three outings, though. That saddled him with a 6.15 ERA over 26 1/3 frames. Mayers had a below-average 14.3% strikeout rate and a modest 8.4% swinging strike percentage before Kansas City took him off the roster.

It’s a second straight down season for the former third-round pick. Mayers posted a 5.68 ERA in 50 2/3 frames with the Angels last year. He’s now a couple years removed from an excellent 2020-21 run with the Halos, when he combined for a 3.34 ERA while fanning more than 30% of opponents in 105 innings out of the bullpen.

Central Notes: Cardinals, Yarbrough, Pirates

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The Cardinals could activate outfielder Lars Nootbaar from the injured list as soon as tomorrow, according to John Denton of MLB.com. Nootbaar, who has been on the IL since the beginning of the month with a lower back contusion, has slashed .266/.380/.390 in 184 plate appearances for St. Louis this season, good for a 118 wRC+.

As discussed by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nootbaar’s return will create something of a conundrum for Cardinals manager Oli Marmol, who has moved Tommy Edman from shortstop to the outfield in recent weeks, a change the switch-hitter has taken well to. Goold suggests that the return of Nootbaar, who can play quality defense in all three outfield spots, would give Marmol the option to shift Edman back to the infield, with Nootbaar taking over center and Nolan Gorman spending most days at DH. Otherwise, Marmol could leave Edman in the center and use Nootbaar and Dylan Carlson in the corners while allowing Jordan Walker, who has struggled to adjust to outfield work after spending most of his minor league career on the infield dirt, to DH.

Whatever defensive alignment the Cardinals end up with, Nootbaar’s return figures to help boost the club as it struggles to stay relevant in the NL Central. Despite an abysmal 29-43 record leaving them 8.5 games back in the NL Central, St. Louis still has a 12.1% chance to make the playoffs, per Fangraphs, thanks to their weak competition in the division.

More from around the Central divisions…

  • Royals left-hander Ryan Yarbrough is set to begin a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League tomorrow, per a club announcement. That’s fantastic news for not only fans in Kansas City, but all around baseball considering the circumstances of Yarbrough’s injury. The lefty was placed on the injured list in early May with multiple head fractures after being struck in the face by a line drive off the bat of Oakland slugger Ryan Noda. Prior to his injury, Yarbrough had struggled badly across ten appearances with the Royals, posting a 6.15 ERA and 5.17 FIP in 26 1/3 innings of work.
  • Following today’s news that the Pirates are poised to promote 2021 first overall pick Henry Davis to the majors tomorrow, manager Derek Shelton told reporters, including MLB.com’s Justice delos Santos, that the club’s current catching tandem of Austin Hedges and Jason Delay would remain on the roster. With Pittsburgh planning to carry three catchers as Davis breaks into the majors, it’s worth wondering how the club plans to use Davis. While the youngster was drafted and has been used primarily as a catcher, he’s also started 15 games in right field over the past two seasons while mixing in starts at DH. Of course, the DH slot in Pittsburgh is largely occupied by Andrew McCutchen, leaving right field as Davis’s most likely home on days where Hedges or Delay start behind the plate. Connor Joe and Josh Palacios are currently manning right for the Pirates in a timeshare.

Royals Select Matt Beaty, Place Michael Massey On 10-Day IL

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The Royals announced that they have selected the contract of utiltyman Matt Beaty from Triple-A, and placed second baseman Michael Massey on the 10-day injured list due to a left hand laceration.  MLB.com’s Anne Rogers reported earlier today that Beaty had a locker in the team’s clubhouse, and that Massey was likely headed to the IL with “a deep cut right on his knuckle, so he’s unable to move it much right now.”  Vinnie Pasquantino (whose season has been ended by shoulder surgery) was moved to the 60-day IL to create a 40-man roster spot for Beaty.

After signing a minor league deal with Kansas City in January, Beaty was traded to the Giants on Opening Day, and he ended up appearing in four games for San Francisco while being optioned to the minors on multiple occasions and eventually designated for assignment.  Beaty elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, and then returned to the Royals on a new minor league deal earlier this week.

Now, Beaty finally looks set to make his official debut in a K.C. uniform.  The 30-year-old made his big league debut with the Dodgers in 2019, and hit .262/.333/.425 over 556 plate appearances in part-time action over the next three seasons, earning a World Series ring in 2020.  Los Angeles traded Beaty to the Padres in March 2022 but the SoCal move went poorly, as Beaty played in only 20 games for San Diego last season while missing the bulk of the year due to a shoulder injury.

Beaty has experience at both corner infield and outfield positions, with first base and left field being his primary positions.  He could help out at all four spots plus the DH role in Kansas City, though first base might be a less-frequent role since Beaty and Nick Pratto are both left-handed hitters.  In what is already looking like a lost season for the Royals, the team will surely prioritize giving Pratto everyday at-bats as a small silver lining to the blow that was Pasquantino’s shoulder injury.

Massey has seen most of the playing time at second base this season, though Matt Duffy, Nicky Lopez, and Maikel Garcia have also gotten some work at the keystone for platoon reasons and because Massey hasn’t hit much.  The 25-year-old has batted .217/.279/.315 over 204 PA, with four home runs.  Beaty’s availability for third base could open the door for Garcia or Lopez to play second base in Massey’s absence.

Royals Designate Mike Mayers, Select Brooks Kriske

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The Royals announced that right-hander Mike Mayers has been designated for assignment.  Mayers’ roster spot will be filled by fellow righty Brooks Kriske, whose contract was selected from Triple-A.

Mayers signed a minor league contract with Kansas City during the offseason, and when that contract was selected last month, Mayers added an eighth MLB season to his resume by appearing in six games for the Royals.  Working as a bulk pitcher in four outings and as a proper starter in his other two games, Mayers had a 1.35 ERA over his first 13 1/3 innings before things soured, as he has given up 16 earned runs over his last 13 innings of work.

All in all, Mayers has a 6.15 ERA over 26 1/3 frames, with a tiny 14.3% strikeout rate.  Mayers has generally not been a big strikeout pitcher over his career, apart from his two best seasons.  He broke out with a 30.5 K% over 105 innings with the Angels in 2020-21, posting a 3.34 ERA while working mostly out of Anaheim’s bullpen.  However, Mayers struggled in 2022, leading the Angels to outright him to Triple-A before waiving him after the season.

With teams always in need of pitchers who can eat innings, there’s a chance another club could put in a claim on Mayers.  If he clears waivers, Mayers can elect to become a free agent again rather than an accept an outright assignment to Triple-A, since he has been outrighted before in his career.

Kriske was another minor league signing during the Royals’ offseason, as he made a return to North American baseball after spending the 2022 season in Japan.  Pitching for the Yokohama BayStars, Kriske had a 2.57 ERA over 21 innings in Nippon Professional Baseball, while also making 14 appearances for the BayStars’ top minor league team.  Kriske’s MLB experience consists of 15 innings with the Yankees and Orioles in 2020-21, with Kriske posting a 14.40 ERA in that small sample size.

Royals Release Jackie Bradley Jr.

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TODAY: The Royals announced that Bradley has been released.

JUNE 12: The Royals announced Monday that they’ve designated veteran outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to outfielder Dairon Blanco, whose selection to the big league roster is now official.

Bradley, the longtime Red Sox center fielder, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason and joined Matt Duffy and the since-released Franmil Reyes as veteran non-roster invitees who made the club out of spring training. Bradley wasn’t able to correct the offensive nosedive that began in 2021, however, hitting just .133/.188/.210 in 113 trips to the plate with Kansas City.

Even when he was hitting for a low average with the Red Sox late last decade, Bradley walked enough to maintain respectable on-base percentages and hit for some power to help prop up his overall production. That’s all evaporated in recent years, however. Bradley had a strong .283/.364/.450 showing with the Red Sox during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, but he’s since turned in 911 plate appearances with a dreadful .176/.238/.275 batting line, a below-average 6.2% walk rate and minimal extra-base pop (42 doubles, four triples, 11 homers, .099 ISO).

The Royals’ outfield has been the least-productive unit in MLB this year. Kansas City’s outfielders have combined for a disastrous .200/.268/.328 batting line, with Bradley’s struggles factoring into the group’s MLB-worst wRC+ (62). Bradley alone is hardly to blame, as the Royals have received below-average production from MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbel, Drew Waters and Nate Eaton. The previously mentioned Reyes and fellow veteran Hunter Dozier also had brief, unproductive appearances in the outfield prior to being released. Edward Olivares is the only player on Kansas City’s roster who’s delivered even average offense while playing the outfield.

Kansas City will have a week to trade Bradley, pass him through outright waivers or release him. He has the service time to reject an outright assignment even if he clears waivers, and it’s hard to imagine a team trading for him. One way or another, a return to the free-agent market seems likely in the near future.

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