1:03pm: MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that Duda’s deal with the Royals carries a $1.25MM base salary and another $250K available via incentives.
12:44pm: The Royals announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran first baseman Lucas Duda and requested unconditional release waivers on outfielder Brian Goodwin. Duda will make the Kansas City Opening Day roster, while the out-of-options Goodwin, who’d previously been viewed as a strong candidate to log ample time in right field this coming season, will become a free agent if and when he clears release waivers in 48 hours.
Duda, 33, spent most of the spring with the division-rival Twins but opted out of his minor league pact with Minnesota last week when it became clear that he wouldn’t make the club as a bench bat. He’ll now open his second consecutive season with the Royals, who signed Duda to a one-year, $3.5MM contract in the 2017-18 offseason. Duda spent the first five months of last season with the Royals and hit .242/.310/.413 before being acquired by the Braves in exchange for cash on Aug. 29. Thus far in Spring Training, he’s posted a .250/.386/.417 slash through 44 PAs between Minnesota and Kansas City.
The Royals haven’t commented on what role Duda will play with the club, but the presence of a younger player with a similar skill set, Ryan O’Hearn, makes it seem likely that Duda will start the season as either a bench bat, joining Cam Gallagher, Terrance Gore and Chris Owings, or as a part-time designated hitter.
Spring Training was a disaster for the 28-year-old Goodwin, whom the Royals acquired in a trade with the Nationals last July. Goodwin appeared in 17 games for the Royals and took 49 plate appearances but slashed .166/.188/.256 with 13 strikeouts against four walks. His .266/.317/.415 output in 101 plate appearances with Kansas City last season gave the Royals a bit of cause for intrigue, but they’ll now entrust right field to a combination of Soler, Owings and Gore early in the season. It’s possible that they’ll try to bring Goodwin back on a minor league contract, though he’ll also have the opportunity to field interest from other clubs once his waiver period expires.
Mistake dropping Goodwin?
Maybe but he did nothing to help his cause this spring.
Probably not. If they kept him, they would have kept 6 OFers so not really likely. Cutting him allows them to keep Gore on the roster who is more useful because of his baserunning and speed, especially for the style of play KC likes to run.
But how useful is a designated pinch runner on a team that probably won’t win 70 games anyway? Brian Goodwin has a career .769 OPS. Gore? .273!!! For point of reference, Ian Kennedy has a .394. I just think late-inning baserunning replacements might not be the biggest need for this team…
Gore has had only 16 AB’s in MLB. Using his batting stats as a comparison is a bit unfair. That being said a team’s 5th OF is usually a defensive wizard along the likes of Shane Robinson. Both Gore and Goodwin are about average (maybe a bit below) on defense. Why any team would choose Gore over Goodwin is baffling. I would guess it has something to do with their spring training results. Gore has managed to carry a .341 OBP (.644 OPS) while Goodwin has posted a meager .188 OBP (.443 OPS).
KC did well playing the running game, our Stadium is not well suited to play for a long ball approach and Gore played a role in the 2014 and 2015 WS
Giants front office just ran for the phone.
Yeah, no kidding.
TruDat
Line might be busy with the Indians calling.
Sorry, I don’t see the Giants being interested unless they plan on making Goodwin into a backup catcher.
Yankees could use his lefty bat with some pop. Goodwin could also provide some speed they’ve been seriously lacking. Grab him up Cash what do you have to lose?
Respect
oK funny guy explain.
Oh yeah. A whole bunch of Teams fall a few respects short of the playoffs each year.
could’ve just selected Frank Schwindel…
Not for a part time role
and when does he get a full time shot?
Whenever those in the know say so. I’m not going to pretend to be a GM. I’m not that smart and neither are 99.998% of the fans
*When a guy tears it up in spring* “It doesn’t matter. Spring stats are meaningless.”
*When a guy has a bad spring* “He showed nothing for us to keep him around, let’s release him.”
Weird they wouldn’t give him a shot to turn things around
Hope we are not relying on Duda as our power bat? Deja vu 100+ losses…
This is a real head scratcher…. A guy who doesn’t hit all that well, isn’t young, can’t run, blocks Schwindel, forces Soler back to the field to get hurt again, and takes ab’s from O’Hearn. Goodwin wasn’t a key piece of the future, but at least he had potential.
Not at all, mizzourah87……..
The best player in ST the past 2 years has been 23 year-old Humberto Arteaga. He batted .478, and is an excellent defender at 2B, SS, and 3B. He’ll push Merrifield and Owings to the OF more – both can play all 3 OF positions. Since all bat RH, thr Royals needed a power LH bat to do some DH’ing and PH.
I saw this coming 2 weeks ago….signing Duda clinched it.
I mean if you’re right, I’m all for it. I have seen nothing to indicate that Dayton has any interest in actually getting younger or “letting the kids play.” The only reason O’Hearn even got his long overdue chance last year is because Duda sucked and they had to. Plus, Arteaga isn’t on the 40 man, they’ll have to release someone to keep him.
Hang in there!……
Dayton made it clear that Duda will will not cut into the playing time of O’Hearn and Dozier.
As for Arteaga I should have clarified…….
Right now I assume they want him to pay every day in the minors and work on some things. I expect him to be shuffled up-and-down from the minors in 2019 as injuries happen. Keep in mind that Hamilton and Owings are on one year contracts, and Alex may retire after the season. We’ll see how things go. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Merrifield being primarily an OF starting in 2020.
Arteaga is something. A perfect Royal. High baseball IQ player – at bat, in the field, on the bases. Understand that Dayton’s philosophy is not to rush youngsters. When they get promoted they tend to only do the things they’re good at to compete at the higher level – such as a pitcher primarily throwing his best pitch. In the bigs opponents go straight after a players weakness. Moore wants a player to be pretty much competitive in all areas before leaving him in the majors. Lots of things can happen, but Arteaga looks like he can be a legitimate star. He reminds me a lot of the Indians Jose Rameriz when he came up. They tried to make him a utility guy, but I felt he’d be a gold glove 2B that would hit decently. Then he put on weight and power was added. Arteaga is a ballplayer. Period. He’s going to be a Royal for years. Along with Lopez and Mondasi, the future infield is going to be awesome! At the least he projects as a super utility guy.