The Royals have brought back three familiar faces, announcing that outfielder Bubba Starling, right-hander Carlos Sanabria, and left-hander Foster Griffin have all been signed to minor league contracts. The trio were all cut loose by the Royals within the last two weeks, with Starling being non-tendered and Sanabria and Griffin both electing free agency after being designated for assignment by the club.
Starling is the best-known name of the bunch, owing to his status as the fifth overall pick of the 2011 draft. A local product from Gardner, Kansas, Starling never put things together in the minors (and considered retiring in 2017) until posting an .806 OPS in 285 PA for Triple-A Omaha in 2019, which earned him his first trip to the big leagues. Over 261 plate appearances over the 2019-20 seasons, Starling has a .204/.246/.298 slash line against MLB pitching.
Sanabria was claimed off waivers from the Astros in October. The righty (who turns 24 in January) made his Major League debut in 2020, tossing two innings over two games. An international signing out of Venezuela in 2014, Sanabria has spent his entire career in Houston’s organization, posting a 3.81 ERA, 2.15 K/BB rate, and 8.9 K/9 over 354 minor league innings and working exclusively as a reliever over the last three seasons.
Griffin also made his MLB debut in 2020, throwing 1 2/3 hitless innings for the Royals on July 27 before suffering a tear in his UCL during that first outing. Griffin will now miss the entire 2021 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Royals drafted Griffin with the 28th overall pick in 2014, and he has a 4.77 ERA, 2.19 K/BB rate, and 7.2 K/9 over 708 innings in Kansas City’s farm system.
Bubbaaaa
What coulda been!
Yes, they passed on Baez and Lindor. And Springer too.
is Foster controllable beyond 2021 as a Minor Leaguer? otherwise a 1 year deal wouldnt make any sense.
All minor league deals are 1 year. He is out of options and can be rule 5’d if not added to the 40 next off-season, but team control rules still apply. So if they add him to the 40 man next off-season, he’ll still be under team control via arbitration and pre-arb.
im talking about minor league free agency. i always have a hard time knowing when that is.
Normally, after 7 years in the system, a playerbgets free agency, unless on a 40 man.
Not all minor league deals are for 1 year. Look at the deal Ryan Sherriff signed with the Rays in 2018 as an example. This is likely a 2-yr deal to allow him to rehab with the Royals and then contribute in 2022.
kinda rough to be a guy like Sanabria where he’s designed at the right time to not be able to get snatched on waivers. sure if he clears he has no choice but to stay at Omaha, but he could have been on a 40 at least if he stuck on waivers.
Royals just can’t quit Bubba, almost 10 years in the organization with little contribution.
Poor understanding of sunk cost?
Should have picked Rendon. Or Linder. Or Springer.
Whatever they were in a tough spot with the “sure things” of that draft going right in front of them and a local kid on the board. It wasn’t a bad pick at the time, even though Rendon has obviously had a better career. No reason not to bring him back on a minor league deal. No such thing as a bad minor league deal.
I beg to differ with you. It was a terrible choice for the Royals at the time. Unfortunately Starling never had the hit tool. He didn’t play a lot of baseball as a kid, he was an excellent basketball and football player also. He faced low level competition All through junior high and high school. I think there was local pressure on the Royals to take him. The fact is, he has never been able to hit.
That doesn’t mean he was a bad pick, lots of high school guys get picked that are deficient in a particular tool, especially the hit tool, with the hopes that it can be developed. If the Royals didn’t pick him he would’ve been taken by someone shortly thereafter. You can’t blame a team that missed out on the three “can’t miss guys” going 1, 2, 4 or whatever it was going with a homegrown guy at 5. It wasn’t a reach. It wasn’t a sure thing and obviously it didn’t pan out, but it wasn’t a reach.
Bubba was the highest rated high school position player that draft. Royals Royals really wanted Dylan Bundy that draft and just missed on getting him.
No way any team should come away with nothing from the No. 5 pick. They passed on Rendon, Lindor, Springer, Baez and others.
It’s not really sunk cost because he costs nothing and they’re not forcing him onto the major league roster or into roles he isn’t ready for, I just think they way guys like Hosmer, Gordon and others took so much longer than people thought to develop has kind of lead them to thinking that things will work out if they wait long enough.
I don’t think it’s happening in this case, but who knows? Royals are still going to be patient with him, I guess.
True story. They can’t give up on one of the worst draft mistakes in MLB history. They passed on Rendon, Springer, Lindor, Baez and others to draft a complete dud.
If only the Royals had everyone’s benefit of hindsight.. At the time, Starling was a highly touted prospect and a consensus top 10, if I’m not mistaken. It is not like they drafted Starling significantly above where he was ranked.
First round busts are not unique in baseball. Heck, there are plenty of teams that would like re-dos in their first pick of that draft, like the Mariners taking Hultzen #2.
I remember reading the scouting reports on Bubba before the draft and was super pumped about his potential. And I’m sad that he’s never come close to living up to that hype.
Isn’t Foster Griffin Peter Griffins’ brother?
Bubba has nine lives – never really did anything to deserve a call up other than be a first rounder and still finds a way to stick around
He is the Royals Tim Tebow. All the hype and a name for people to remember.
I can see Carlos Sanabria becoming a nice bullpen piece down the line.