Right-hander Wily Peralta cleared waivers and has been outrighted from the Royals’ 40-man roster, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports. He’ll head to Triple-A Omaha.
As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted earlier this week, Peralta was signed to a fully-guaranteed MLB deal. As such, the Royals will be on the hook for his entire salary unless he lands elsewhere, in which case his new team will pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary. Peralta allowed 14 earned runs across just eight innings during spring training. His 2017 campaign with the Brewers wasn’t much better, as the righty posted a cataclysmic 7.85 ERA across 18 appearances (nine starts) with the Brewers. The 28-year-old saw his walk rate skyrocket to a career-high 5.02 BB/9, while his HR/9 ended the year at a 1.57 figure.
Poor recent performance aside, Peralta’s designation was likely affected in part by Kansas City’s desire to hold Rule 5 picks Burch Smith and Brad Keller on the roster. The team is in a bit of a rebuilding period, so the upside of keeping these two young players for the long term probably outweighs the value of holding onto the struggling Peralta.
I liked all the veteran signings Dayton Moore made this winter….except for Peralta. He gave Peralta a major-league deal but only offered Neil Walker a minor league deal. I don’t get that. Maybe Peralta will find something in Omaha…but I doubt it.
Wily Peralta, Kyle Lohse, Clay Buchholz…
Looking as if KC might be looking to showcase-to-flip a starter or two with their stockpiling of proven ML guys in AAA like this
Come July I would think Duffy, Kennedy, Hammel and Herrera could all be moved. Moore is just hoping they are all pitching well enough to get a decent return.
I would love to see Peralta deployed in a strict relief situation. He has great stuff, maybe it would play up in the bullpen. Makes sense to send him to AAA to have him work on it.
Didn’t understand why they signed Peralta for guaranteed money back then. Wasn’t the best move and here they are adjusting already.