The Royals announced they’ve designated outfielder Dairon Blanco for assignment. That’s the necessary 40-man roster move to finalize their one-year deal with Starling Marte, which is official.
Blanco has been a depth outfielder in Kansas City for the past four seasons. He played in nearly half the team’s games between 2023-24 but wasn’t much of a factor last year. Blanco got into nine contests and only took eight plate appearances at the major league level. He went 1-6 with a double while stealing three bases in five attempts.
The 32-year-old (33 in April) missed the first six weeks of the season battling Achilles tendinopathy in his right foot. He returned to health in mid-May and spent the majority of the year on optional assignment. The Cuba native batted .253/.332/.405 with eight homers across 294 plate appearances in Triple-A. He stole 32 bags while getting cut down just three times over 77 games.
A right-handed hitter, Blanco has league average numbers (.257/.312/.416) over 285 MLB plate appearances. The Royals have seemingly been skeptical that’d remain the case over a larger sample. Kansas City outfielders had an MLB-worst .225/.285/.348 batting line last season. Although the outfield has been an issue for the better part of a decade, the Royals never gave Blanco much of a starting opportunity.
They had kept him on the big league roster for the second half of 2023 and all of ’24 as a bench piece. Blanco’s top-of-the-scale wheels made him an asset as a pinch runner. He went 55-67 in stolen base tries over that season and a half. Blanco entered 48 games as a pinch runner. No one else in MLB reached even 20 pinch-running appearances over those two full seasons.
Kansas City has five days to trade Blanco or place him on waivers. He still has a pair of minor league options remaining. He’s on the older side for a player whose game is built so much around his legs, as he didn’t depart his home country until he was 23 and made his MLB debut at 29.
I really like Blanco, but Marte will be a much better player for the Royals this year. Maybe they can sign Blanco to a minor league deal again down the road. He could be a good player in time.
I thought they’d DFA Drew Waters instead of Blanco.
Used up, and thrown to the side like roadkill. Sherman has changed. His focus is now on the stadium development and no longer making the Royals a family friendly, player friendly organization.
What am I missing here?
Used very little, only 287 PAs over four seasons, but has been a league average hitter….99 wRC+.
He has hammered lefties…137 wRC+…and did so in the minors.
81% success rate on stolen base attempts.
Can play all three outfield positions.
All while playing for an org with a traditionally poor outfield.
I’m not questioning dropping him now. But why on earth was he never used consistently as a short side platoon bat in KC?