The Royals announced today that they have inked a deal with outfielder Terrance Gore. Meanwhile, utilityman Rosell Herrera was designated for assignment to create roster space.
Gore has secured a one-year, MLB pact that comes with a split salary, per MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (via Twitter). He will earn at a $350K rate in the minors and a $650K rate in the big leagues.
The 27-year-old Gore is a five-year MLB veteran, but has taken just 19 plate appearances at the game’s highest level. While he’s valued for his blistering speed and instincts on the bases and in the field, Gore has a track record of abysmal offensive numbers in the minors.
Given that profile, it’s a bit of a surprise to see the out-of-options Gore occupying a 40-man roster spot for a Royals club that seems to have little hope of near-term contention. That’s all the more true given that the club already added speed demon Billy Hamilton, who is expected to command the bulk of the playing time in center.
When the Royals inked Hamilton, they emphasized the need to cover ground at hitter-friendly Kauffman Stadium, so perhaps there’s a niche for Gore as well if the club decides to take things to an extreme position. (He’d be a platoon match for the left-handed-hitting Hamilton, it’s worth noting.) Certainly, the K.C. team knows him as well as anyone, having employed him exclusively since 2011, excepting a late-2018 run with the Cubs. If Gore does ultimately end up on the big league roster, he’ll pair with Hamilton, Whit Merrifield and Adalberto Mondesi to give manager Ned Yost a fleet-footed quartet that is unparalleled in terms of raw speed and baserunning ability.
As for Herrera, 26, he’s capable of lining up just about anywhere defensively, but hasn’t generally shown much with the bat. He slashed .234/.286/.317 in his first 302 MLB plate appearances last year. That said, Herrera has at times exhibited promising plate discipline as well as speed and even some power (16 home runs in 2013), so it’s still possible he’ll put some things together and emerge as a worthwhile MLB performer.
Are we sure that they didn’t just have Terrance Gore pinch-signing a contract for someone else? :)
Terrance Gore? Didn’t they just get Terrance Gore Lite when they signed Billy Hamilton??
Fastest outfield in history already
Also worst on-base percentage, although Gore rarely ever bats.
Oh, absolutely they’re terrible hitters.
I was hoping Gore could reach first on a dropped third strike in the NL Wild Card game like AJ Pierzynski did in the 2005 ALCS, but no luck.
5 seasons. One hit. Zero runs batted in. Gore is going to win people a lot of bar bets someday.
Best fact about Terrance Gore is that he made his first appearance in the back half of a suspended game, so in the official record his first stolen base occurred while he was playing for AA Northwest Arkansas.
I think it’s actually that Gore is Hamilton light.
I also think most are overestimating how much time will spend in KC. I assume that he’ll mostly be in Omaha (which does, however, make you wonder why they bothered burning a 40 man spot on him).
I love Terrance – but outside of doing the guy a solid – this seem kind of pointless.
Problem is he’s out of options, so he’ll have to clear waivers.
Which he will easily. Nobody has room on their roster for a guy whose only value is pinch running.
Even if a team did claim him, they would have to pay him $350/$650 K, depending on where it stashed him. Only cash-strapped Royals think that is a good value. Even if you are able to flip him at the trade deadline, that seems to be a stretch for a team that always cries poverty.
Another Billy Hamilton.
Professional pinch runner. Hamilton and Gore will be flipped to contenders
Welcome home!
Dude got a hit last year.
You win the comment section Mr. Shepherd.
And it was off of Scherzer.
If they did relay races in Spring Training, I’d have to bet on the Royals. Getting on base competition, though, would be a different story.
Gore finally got his first major league hit last season.
Nothing but upside from here on.
4,255 to tie Rose. 2,999 to be a serious HOF candidate. Come on, Terrance. It’s never too late.
Off max Scherzer no less.
Off scherzer
MLB deal? WOW!
Guy has no clue how to hit and has a terrible approach at the plate, but he can sure run!
Royals are going to try to win with speed. Good luck!
Is your father Terrance Gore?
Sounds more like an ex-girlfriend to me.
He has 19 career plate appearances, not sure how you can say he has a “terrible approach.”
Royals will be hoping to get 4 hits a game and 12 SBs to win.
I was a huge Rosie fan last year. Obviously the numbers aren’t anything special but he looked decent enough at every position and he’s the kind of “let’s see what we have” guy rebuilding teams should run out onto the field. I love Gore for everything he did in those pennant runs but this is pretty confusing to me.
How many outfielders to the Royals need??
Billy Hamilton
Terrance Gore
Alex Gordon
Brett Phillips
Paulo Orlando
Jorge Soler
Brian Goodwin
Am I missing something here??
No…but they are…outfielders….
Paulo Orlando was non-tendered and is currently a free agent. Soler is probably the DH. And you did forget Jorge Bonifacio
Unless this happened today, I do not think Orlando was non-tendered. Not sure if he is even up for arbitration yet.
Yes he was, right after the season.
You missed Jorge Bonifacio too…
Soler will be the primary DH, Orlando is not on the 40 man. My guess is Phillips starts the year off at AAA to get regular ab’s…. Which would leave Gordon, Hamilton, Gore, Bonifacio, and Goodwin. Still baffles me. I really liked Herrera.
Brett Phillips will be a late season call up. Hes not that good.
Wow! Id much rather have Herrera than Gore, but there’s some bias. Ive been a HUGE Herrera fan since he was w/ Colorado
I agree. I just don’t like Gore. Speed is pointless if you can’t hit.
At 350k minor league salary, highest paid minor leaguer?
Dang, typically big minor league salaries is like $100k right?
Rusney Castillo has him beat by a long shot.
Forget the shift. With that speed, the Royals will just play Hamilton and Gore in the outfield and use five infielders.
Terrance Gore? Is he the one who ran for president? Or the one who sang “It’s My Party”?
Nah, he was the one who tried to warn everyone about the ManBearPig
South Park references will get you nowhere.
I’m super serial!
Royals need pitching. Bullpen is atrocious
Rough article man. First, Billy Hamilton, while better from the left-side, is a switch-hitter. And second, I don’t think I’ve heard Kaufman Stadium called ‘hitter-friendly’ much. Maybe spacious or even hitter-friendly for those balls that stay in the yard, but notoriously a pitchers park for many years.
Yes, I think he meant Gordon to platoon with? Hitter friendly….lol
Ok Gore and Hamilton should be hunting at least twice a game
If they only had guns.
bunting damn auto correct
Lol….I know. Couldn’t resist though, and it’s actually not far off because they surely don’t have any ammunition in their proverbial ‘guns’. I was so excited as a Reds fan to have Billy coming up. It just never happened. He was an exciting player, but I can’t help but point my finger at him and the lack of starting pitching for the prolonged so-called ‘rebuild’. It’s been painful. Great American Ballpark is a beautiful stadium and a really cool place, but they really screwed up on the dimensions. Badly.
Hamilton isn’t a LH hitter. He’s right handed.
Switch hitter.
don’t understand the point of this. doubtful he even makes the team out of Spring Training. It seems like we could better utilize Herrera’s versatility than Gore’s speed.
We have Chris Owings and Whit Merrifield, we don’t need Rosie. I’m not sure we need Gore, either, but we’re not going to miss Rosie.
Herrera would be good pick up to the Brewers on a minor league contract.
MAJOR league contract?! WTF! Gore can’t hit. Shoild have been a minor league contract. We have enoigh outfielders Dayton.
1 HR in his minor league career!
Huge Royals fan here.
Not sure what’s going on…….
Does Gore need some weeks on a ML roster to qualify for a pension? I could see the Royals helping him there. It’s a classy organization that’s loyal to those in the family.
Isnt it the Royals that signs a regular person to a minor league contract to help them with insurance for medical reasons I always thought that was a very stand up thing
Years ago many teams did that sort of thing. As abrupt as he was with some players, George Steinbrenner went out of his way doing things like paying medical for wives and children that a retired ex-player could not afford. Al Davis of the football Raiders did the same.
Today the environment is all about quick cash and player movement – a la rotisserie league for real.
Right now I believe the Royals and Indians are the 2 top organizations in standing by their players and visa versa. The Cardinals might be a possibility, not sure. Can’t really see any others.
Think more teams should do that
I think you might be thinking of LaChappa. He was a pitcher for the Padres and is now disabled and in a wheelchair. The Padres have been giving him a contract for 20 years now. Stories like that are few and far between these days.
Ok thank you for that
Billy gave up switch hitting? He needs to lol
I love it. They can’t afford to throw punches with the big money teams conventionally so they’re taking a different approach by focusing on speed. Watch them win and copy cat GM’s trash strikeouts and launch angles for small ball.
What a bullpen
I thought he was already on the team, hes not worth a million..might be time to rethink deyton as our manager
Fast, pinch runners could be the new market inefficiency. Who has tried it? This guy could steal 100 if you put him in early in the game and then subbed him out for a bat later. Could do the same with Hamilton and get the entire bench involved.
Why on earth are the Royals blowing a 40-man spot, on a guy who’s skillset only really matters in the postseason?
If you’re among the worst teams in the league, and in the middle of a youth movement, giving a deal to a part-time pinch runner makes less than zero sense.
Either you give him AB’s, and you’re wasting AB’s on a known-quantity…or you don’t give him AB’s, and you’re wasting a roster spot. Which one is it?
350K Isn’t a bad chunk of change. Good for Gore. Questionable move for the Royals though. I guess he’s a flip candidate again next year? They didn’t get much the first time.
royals are laughable trash
They all need to learn how to bunt.
He hit 16HR i. 2013…in Single A. Bit of a reach dude.
As a Royals fan this is absolutely terrible!!!
How many outfielders you gonna sign and waste a roster spot on or overspending on?
We have plenty of outfielders
We need pitching.
This is another reason why dayton moore should be fired. He clearly has worn out his welcome.
I just hope we can keep Rosey until he fully develops. I see moments of greatness in him much like we did in Merrifield before he was a regular. Gore won’t be with at the break us if we don’t do well in April thru June