The Royals had little obvious need for veteran righty Chris Young heading into the season, but GM Dayton Moore had the team sign him anyway, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star writes. The Royals offered a big-league deal just as Young was strongly considering a minor-league offer from the Dodgers, even though the Royals didn’t have a clear spot for Young in either their rotation or their bullpen. “The analytical guys can’t understand me, either,” says Moore. Moore’s “impulse,” as McCullough puts it, has paid off so far — Young has performed better than anyone else in the Royals rotation, except perhaps Edinson Volquez. Young’s contract calls for a base salary of just $675K, but he’s already reached some roster benchmarks, and he looks likely to collect incentives that should get him close to a maximum $6MM. Here’s more from the American League.
- Red Sox righty Jonathan Aro’s path to the big leagues was an unlikely one, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes. As a teenager, Aro twice contracted Dengue fever. He was already contemplating his life after baseball before finally signing at 20, a late age for a Dominican player, and for just $10K. “First of all, I signed as a 20-year-old. Secondly, I signed as a $10,000 guy. Thirdly, all the guys who signed in my class were high-dollar guys. I thought I was at the low end of the priority list,” says Aro through a translator. “So, in short, no — I didn’t think this was attainable.” Aro gradually made his way through the minors, though, and excelled for Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket this year, posting a combined 2.22 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 44 2/3 innings. He made his big-league debut Thursday.
- Rays lefty Drew Smyly will pitch from a mound for the first time on Saturday since heading to the disabled list in May with a torn labrum, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. In early May, it looked like Smyly was headed for season-ending surgery, but he currently appears set to rejoin the Rays at some point late this season.
- In other Rays injury news, DH John Jaso will start a rehab assignment Saturday with the Class A+ Charlotte Stone Crabs, Topkin tweets. Jaso has missed much of the season with a wrist injury. Jaso should provide the Rays with another reliable bat, although they’ve done well at DH this season, with Joey Butler and David DeJesus taking most the available plate appearances.
Red Sox fans that follow Soxprospects website have seen this and those who have the Milb package have probably seen him a few times also.
Here is a little bit from the Soxprospects site with regards to a scouting outlook on him:
“91-93 mph. Tops out at 95 mph. Solid-average potential. Heavy with late life. Jumps on hitters. Difficult to pick up. Has had trouble locating pitch arm-side. Two-seam has late arm-side run at 87-89 mph. Throws strikes, average command.”
Don’t think will have to worry about him not being protected this winter for the Rule 5 draft. He was another of the interesting arms that were going to be rule 5 eligible this winter, but now he’s on the 40 man roster and getting his 1st taste of MLB service.
The best thing about it is up until a few days ago it said he’d top out in the high minors. Now way to really know how a guy like him may develop. Bully for him for beating the experts.
Whatever Young accomplished last summer in Seattle should have gotten the interest of quite a few teams. Hard to believe that the best he could have done was a Dodgers minor league deal. At that time he was a better option than what a lot of teams had in the #4-5 slot. It was a nice “educated hunch” by the KC front office. Analytics aside….a good scouting eye is paramount.
The Rays could use Looney and Jaso ….they get Matt Moore back next thursday and Odderizzi back after the all star break …Smiley would be a luxury….