The Royals have released veteran reliever Brandon League, reports Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. Additionally, they’ve traded first baseman Brandon Dulin to the White Sox for a player to be named or cash, according to Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter links).
The 33-year-old League, who hasn’t taken a major league mound since 2014, joined the Royals on a minor league deal in January. That came after shoulder problems limited the former Mariners and Dodgers closer to 10 2/3 minor league innings in 2015 and helped keep him out of baseball last year. In his comeback attempt with the Royals, the right-hander tossed five spring frames and yielded just two earned runs on three hits, though he did issue four walks while totaling only two strikeouts.
Long a hard thrower, League has registered 532 big league innings with Toronto, Seattle and Los Angeles, and recorded a 3.65 ERA, 6.34 K/9, 3.13 BB/9 and 60.5 percent ground-ball rate. After a strong stretch from 2010-12, the Dodgers signed League to a three-year, $22.5MM. League then delivered mixed results over two years, and the Dodgers released him in 2015 amid his aforementioned shoulder troubles.
Dulin, whom the Royals selected in the 12th round of the 2013 draft, hasn’t gotten past Single-A. The 24-year-old hit .254/.312/.391 in 269 plate appearances at that level last season.
