The NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization have brought back pitcher Drew Rucinski on a one-year, $1MM deal with a $200K signing bonus, per Dan Kurtz of myKBO.net (via Twitter). The team also announced the deal on their twitter account. Rucinski, who turns 31 on Monday, last played in the states for the Marlins in 2018, putting up a 4.33 ERA/3.81 FIP across 32 appearances out of the pen. For the Dinos in 2019, he threw 177 1/3 innings of 3.05 ERA baseball, striking out 119 batters to 49 walks. On a slow news day, chew on these quick hits from the AL…
- The Royals are not shy about how they value the versatility of players like Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier. Their recent signing of Maikel Franco attempts to take advantage of said versatility, with Dozier planned to move to right field to make room for the former Phillie, per MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan. Merrifield, meanwhile, is likely to lead off and play centerfield. The Royals have attempted to lengthen their lineup this offseason, and while it’s not the most daunting group, Kansas City expects better years out of Franco, Nicky Lopez, and Ryan O’Hearn, who all struggled mightily in 2019. Improvement is a low bar for this trio, and unless they make significant strides, it’s hard to imagine the Royals making much noise in the American League.
- The Orioles made some additions to their coaching staff while shifting around a good chunk of the incumbent staff. Chris Holt, however, has taken on an entirely new role in the organization as the new Director of Pitching, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. Holt was formerly the minor league pitching coordinator after defecting from Houston, but his new role will allow him the freedom to assist pitching coach Doug Brocail in implementing much of the data that accompanied GM Mike Elias to the organization. Holt will continue to spend much of his time with the minor leagues, but his new role will allow him to see his development projects through all the way to the bigs.
The royals actually have a really good Lineup just the pitching is seriously holding them back.
KC had the 26th ranked offense in baseball last year. The Orioles had the 22nd. KC just has a bad team.
Last time I looked, the Royals won more games than the O’s last year. I’m guessing they will this next season as well.
Of course the Orioles were in a much tougher division
Both teams suck. I never claimed that the Orioles weren’t an awful baseball team. The Orioles had a better offense and worse pitching than KC last season. This guy said KC’s only issue was the pitching. Not really the case…. The Royals had more issues than just on the mound.
The royals were 2nd in defense.
And that’s a plus. But unless some of those guys start hitting better it’s
not going to matter. The Royals have a ton of holes in their lineup. Soler, Mondesi (He’s volatile), Merrifield, Perez and Dozier are fine players.
Merrifield is 31 and relies on speed. Perez and Soler are under contracts for only 2 more seasons. Every other position is basically a black hole….So I’d certainly say the Royals have an offense problem. Right now and in the future.
You just said like 5 players are fine but then said every position outside of Merrifield, Perez, and Soler are black holes lol
Also are we saying that Merrifield relies on speed just because he has a high Babip? Because I’d have to disagree.
salvy will be back. i’m hoping that means up to 70 wins in 2020, an improvement by 11.
Merrifield does not rely on speed alone. He does a little bit of everything and does it all well. To all that think he is a slap hitter whos numbers are inflated by his speed and will regress when he gets slower are flat wrong.
I don’t believe you understood my post. The Royals have 4 positions that are currently black holes. Perez and Soler are only under contract for 2 more years and aren’t exactly building blocks.
I didn’t mean Merrifield would be a useless player once his legs go. If it came across that way; I’m sorry. But it’s equally ignorant to think he’ll be as good as he is now once his legs go. Speed is absolutely a big part of his game. He had 10 Triples and stole 42 bases last year. You can’t do that when you lose a gear.
Stole 45 bases 2 years ago. I apologize. He already was not an efficient runner. 20/30 is not efficient at all on the base paths. Most teams would not want a guy running with that success rate. The Royals do things a little differently. But we’ll see if Whit is able to be more efficient next season. That may have just been a down year swiping bags.
This all got a little more in depth than I had ever intended also. I’m not trying to dump on the Royals. I was just being realistic when the OP said “the Royals only issue was pitching.” And the lineup was “really good.” Most teams who win less than 60 games have more issues. The Royals aren’t an exception.
For a more holistic view they were 27th in pitching and 2nd in defense.
Ok so your telling me that you would take your Orioles lineup over, Merrifield, Mondesi, Dozier, Perez, Soler, Franco (who can still turn into something), Gordon (assuming he’s returns), O’Hearn( who has 90.5MPH exit velocity and and a hard hit rate of 43.7%) and Nicky Lopez( who is struggling at the plate for sure, but is well above average defensively).
Rio Ruiz, Dj Stewart, Richie Martin and Chance Sisco really?? You guys also released your best player and your still think your offensive is better. Lol. Also I think the orioles pitching is better than the Royals.
Buddy I just don’t think you get it. I said the Orioles were terrible. I said the Royals were terrible. The Royals offense isn’t good. You’re missing the big picture. Neither offense is good.
Yea your right I don’t really understand the big picture your proposing. But I think we can both agree that the Royals and the Orioles are both very bad and have a long ways to go.
What a let down. When I saw “holt” I thought maybe we would finally hear something, anything, about brockstar. Hasn’t really been a peep about him, former all star, plays just about anywhere 3-9…
Maybe there’s behind the scenes arrangement with the red sox to return (one can hope) accounting for the silence
Agree. Would love to hear more from Brock. Red Sox seem less likely with Jose Peraza in the mix.
He’ll sign w ARI
I was thinking if not Boston, the Yankees ala Tiant and Watson in 79 or more recently Damon and Ellsbury. Obviously the Yankees have spent this off season but they’ve lost a lefty stick (Didi) and while not supplying his pop, his versatility is what they need if DJ isn’t going to be moved around.
Not sure I’d be able to stomach that, Dewey.
Get used to it. Sox are dumpster diving and this guy plus Perez are showing an overpay for garbage tendency based on nothing more than the fact guys are busts who once upon a time had a high draft slot and favorable scouting…. just like dozens of other high pedegree busts in every single draft every single year.
Agree but where else? Maybe Cleveland? NY seems like an on field fit yet Sox fans would have a fit.
KC is valuing Merrifield as if he were The Fifth Element.
Elsa?
They MUST prevent him from getting a ring, like they were Frodo to Sauron
Go back to Middle Earth.
Trading whit to another team absolutely does NOT guarantee him a ring. Look at JD Martinez…Traded in 2017 to Arizona….He didn’t get a ring until he signed with the Red Sox the next year.
So he…got a ring by getting out? Thanks thats exactly what I was implying
beeeeg badda boom!
Multi pass!
Yolmer Sanchez is way better than Nicky Lopez, that’s one cheap upgrade the Royals could make.
Bring Gordon back for LF.
Sign a few of Taijuan Walker, Rich Hill, Alex Wood, Drew Smyly, Aaron Sanchez, Tyson Ross, Danny Salazar or Andrew Cashner and hope they put up numbers so they can flip them, because Junis, Lopez and Montgomery are very low upside types who give you no chance to be a competitive team.
Unfortunately the Royals roster is at 40 now. The signing of Franco officially filled it up. So if Alex wanted to come back there’s no room ( Unless you get rid of Eric Skoglund or Brett Philips)
nicky lopez JUST made his debut in 2019. its not like he’d been playing in the MLB for 5 years
Well, obviously you get rid of those two terrible players.
Yolmer seems to be everything Lopez’s ceiling is.
I really hope KC fans aren’t thinking Lopez is a long term answer, he really has low ceilings everywhere
Are you kidding? Yolmer sanchez and his career .656 OPS is no way an upgrade on the rebuilding royals. Lopez is young and has waaaay more upside and pedigree and if he slumps to begin the year Merrifield can slide back to 2b. Keep Yolmer as far as possible
McBroom should get the starting 1B nod over a horrible O’Hearn.
Sounds like Dr Suess
Come on guys! That’s pretty rude to put “Holt” on there as Click Bait! I wanted to info on the Brock star!
Royals fans crack me up. It’s not one thing.
The Royals had 2 players hit +.275 last season. No pitcher is going to be successful with that crap run support. Jorge Soler’s break-thru came with a whopping .265 batting average. The Royals need more guys to hit the ball – doesn’t have to be hard – just hit the ball.
The Royals have a respectable starting rotation going into 2020… if they have run support. Without, this group will collapse. There’s no ace, no guy to carry the team. The position players will make or break this unit.
The bullpen is actually solid through 3 players: Hill, Barlow, and Kennedy. Once you get past those first three guys, there ain’t much there.