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John Sherman Officially Purchases Kansas City Royals

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NOVEMBER 26: The sale has been formally announced.

NOVEMBER 21: MLB owners have approved the sale of the Kansas City Royals baseball club to area businessman John Sherman, as reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link).

In August, word came that longtime Royals owner David Glass was discussing a potential sale with the KC-based Sherman, with the final price expected to exceed $1BB. Today’s procedural approval by owners and the league itself marks an official transition of ownership.

Sherman’s acquisition was never expected to be in serious doubt, in part due to the 64-year-old’s existing ties to the game. Sherman has been a minority stakeholder in the division-rival Indians since 2016, holding the official title of vice chairman since that time. Sherman, who made his fortune in the natural gas and energy industries, is expected to divest himself of his ties to the Indians now that this sale is approved.

Glass’ tenure as KC owner saw his club reach the broadest possible spectrum of highs and lows. Glass purchased the Royals for a reported $96MM back in 2000. Over the next two decades, the franchise would record 100-or-more losses in six separate campaigns, while reaching the World Series consecutively in 2014 and 2015 (ultimately bringing home a ring in ’15). Next year will mark the 14th full season of club direction under GM Dayton Moore, with the Royals currently engaged in another future-oriented youth movement.

Cubs Interested In Whit Merrifield

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The Cubs are showing “continued interest” in Royals’ second baseman/outfielder Whit Merrifield, reported Jon Paul Morosi of MLB Network earlier this week. The two-time reigning MLB hits leader is guaranteed just $15.25MM over the next three seasons (with a team option for a fourth) under the affordable extension he signed with Kansas City in January.

It’s not difficult to see why the Cubs are interested in Merrifield, but they (or any other suitor) will have a hard time prying him away from KC. Merrifield (31 in January) has been extremely durable and productive the past three seasons. Since the start of 2016, he’s taken 2,404 plate appearances of above-average hitting (.296/.344/.445, 109 wRC+), while chipping in elite baserunning and passable defense at multiple positions. The Cubs have an uncertain mix at Merrifield’s primary position, second base. Addison Russell is a non-tender candidate, and Ben Zobrist is a free agent. Nico Hoerner, David Bote and Robel García are promising options to varying extents, but none is a proven MLB contributor. Merrifield would be an unquestioned upgrade.

Of course, that combination of productivity and affordability has made him a staple in Kansas City, which hasn’t expressed any desire to let Merrifield go. Royals’ general manager Dayton Moore wouldn’t move Merrifield for anything less than a “crazy” offer (in the executive’s words) at July’s trade deadline. More recently, Moore admitted that no one on the roster is entirely untouchable given the club’s ongoing rebuild, although he then lauded the All-Star as a player and person, giving no indication the front office has seemingly changed course on trade discussions.

With the Royals’ resistance to trading Merrifield in the past, it seems unlikely anything will come to fruition with the Cubs or any other team in the immediate future. If Kansas City were to market Merrifield aggressively, other teams beyond Chicago would surely enter the fray. That said, it’s interesting that Theo Epstein and the rest of the Cubs’ front office have considered a Merrifield pursuit as one of the many options on the table for a team seemingly poised for a roster restructure this offseason.

Royals Designate Jorge Bonifacio, Three Others For Assignment

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The Royals announced that they’ve designated outfielder Jorge Bonifacio, catcher Nick Dini and right-handers Conner Greene and Arnaldo Hernandez for assignment in advance of tonight’s deadline to set 40-man rosters prior to December’s Rule 5 Draft. Those four roster spots will go to left-hander Foster Griffin, right-hander Carlos Hernandez, shortstop Jeison Guzman and outfielder Nick Heath, each of whom has had his contract formally selected, per the team. Kansas City’s 40-man roster is full.

Bonifacio, 26, was the team’s primary right fielder in 2017 and gave fans some cause for optimism, hitting .255/.320/.432 with 17 homers, 15 doubles and a triple in that rookie campaign. He’s since been tagged with an 80-game PED suspension, however, and has generally struggled to produce at the plate. Over his past 291 plate appearances in the Majors, Bonifacio hit .234/.317/.371. For a defensively limited corner outfielder who is out of minor league options, that lack of output was no longer sufficient enough to keep his place on the roster.

Greene, also 26, was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals late last November — nearly a year ago to the day. The once-well-regarded prospect struggled to a 5.13 ERA in 112 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, though, averaging 4.3 walks per nine innings pitched along the way. His control issues expanded beyond walks, as he plunked nine batters and threw a whopping 21 wild pitches.

Dini made his MLB debut at the age of 26 this past season but hit just .196/.270/.357 in 64 plate appearances with Kansas City. He’s a lifetime .288/.347/.437 in five minor league seasons who hit .296/.370/.565 in last year’s supercharged Triple-A environment.

Arnaldo Hernandez, 23, tossed 23 sharp innings in Double-A but was hammered for a 6.39 ERA with a dismal 65-41 K/BB ratio and 24 homers allowed in just 105 1/3 Triple-A innings.

Griffin, 24, was a first-round pick in 2014 and has gone unselected in prior Rule 5 Drafts. He didn’t post particularly appealing Triple-A numbers in ’19 (5.23 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 4.4 BB/9) but notch a 49.2 percent grounder rate. He’s also impressed in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, tossing 23 1/3 innings of 2.31 ERA ball with a hearty 31-to-6 K/BB ratio.

Hernandez, 22, posted a 3.50 ERA with a 43-to-9 K/BB ratio in 35 innings with the Royals’ Class-A affiliate. Guzman didn’t hit much in A-ball and isn’t considered among the organization’s top prospects, but the Royals are bullish enough to protect him from being selected. Heath didn’t have much power, but he’s a prototypical Royals player, as evidenced by his 60 steals between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019.

Jorge Soler Switches Agencies

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Royals designated hitter Jorge Soler has made a change in representation. According to a tweet from Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Soler has chosen to work with agent Casey Close of Excel Sports Management after previously working with ACES (link).

The timing of this change is certainly interesting. Soler’s current contractual status with Kansas City is unique, owing to the nine-year, $30MM accord he signed with the Cubs as a 20-year-old back in 2012. After logging a 2019 campaign that included a .265/.354/.569 slash and 48 home runs, Soler is “signed” for the 2020 season at just $4MM. However, the 27-year-old retains the right to opt out of that guaranteed salary and into MLB’s arbitration process this winter, as is the case with many Cuban defectors who signed Major League deals under the previous international free agency infrastructure. Given Soler’s counting stats alone, he’s almost a certain lock to opt for the arbitration route.

Though KC still holds Soler’s rights through 2021, it stands to reason that club exec Dayton Moore might kick the tires on a potential long-term extension with the slugger this winter. If the club aims to contend within the next two seasons, as they’ve stated, Soler and his potent bat (136 wRC+ in 2019) project to be indispensable to Kansas City’s currently tepid offensive attack (cumulative 84 wRC+ in 2019).

And it certainly seems like Moore might agree with that logic: yesterday, we heard that the club is interested in using its financial resources to secure the services of existing players into the future. Hunter Dozier, Adalberto Mondesi, and Brad Keller could all be viable candidates for such an allocation, but Soler’s potentially imminent entry into arbitration could give the Royals added incentive toward wrapping an extension this winter.  If both parties are open to such an idea, our own Steve Adams recently used Randal Grichuk’s five-year, $52MM 2019 extension with the Blue Jays as a touchstone for possible negotiations between Royal officials and Soler reps.

Royals Sign Matt Reynolds To Minor League Contract

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The Kansas City Royals announced the signing of infielder Matt Reynolds to a minor league contract. Reynolds has previously appeared in the majors with the Mets and Nationals.

Reynolds, 29 in December, was a 2nd round draft choice of the New York Mets back in 2012. He appeared sparingly for the Mets in 2016 and 2017 as a superutility player, appearing everywhere but catcher, pitcher, and centerfield.

The Nationals purchased his contract prior to the 2018 season, but never cracked the regular rotation in Washington. He was designated for assignment last winter to make room on the 40-man roster after the signing of Brian Dozier. The Oklahoma native spent all of last season with Triple-A Fresno, putting together a strong season hitting .295/.401/.521 with 16 home runs across 449 plate appearances.

The Royals are buying low here to build some organizational depth. Reynolds’ defensive versatility helps his chances of getting an opportunity at the big league level, but he’s more-than-likely on-hand for depth in case of injury. For his big-league career, Reynolds owns a .223/.295/.340 line across 240 plate appearances.

Latest On Royals’ Offseason Plans

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The Royals are still grinding through a rebuild and are undergoing a transition at the ownership level, so it never seemed likely they’d be big players on the open market. The club’s precise plans have remained a mystery, but we’re now finally beginning to get a sense of the shape of the Kansas City offseason.

Kansas City fans won’t likely see much in the way of exciting new talent in 2020, as Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets that the organization has a “very limited budget” to work with. A decent chunk of what the club has made available is expected to go to veteran outfielder Alex Gordon, with the remainder to be allocated to some pitching additions. That’s not an especially inspiring offseason wish list for an organization that hasn’t posted a winning record since its 2015 World Series-winning effort.

[RELATED: Kansas City Royals Offseason Outlook]

While some lean years always seemed likely to follow that push, the Dayton Moore-led front office has largely declined to cash in veterans when opportunities have arisen. Players such as Danny Duffy, Ian Kennedy, Whit Merrifield, and even Salvador Perez would for many teams have been trade bait. Even as the team has strongly indicated a desire for a quick bounce back to relevance — it has touted recent collegiate draft selections and there was even mid-season chatter in 2019 of a Wild Card run — it has been difficult to envision that happening based upon the present assemblage of talent.

The concept of a quick revamping would seem to call for some infusion of MLB talent from outside the organization. But that’s not the only way the club can spend money this winter. Other reporting indicates that the club may believe in its budding new core, but will wait at least another year to add to it.

Though they won’t be spending to add from the outside, the Royals will consider plunking down cash to secure the services of existing players into the future, according to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (via Twitter). He lists Jorge Soler, Hunter Dozier, and Adalberto Mondesi as conceivable extension candidates. One might speculatively add hurler Brad Keller to that group as well.

Of that slate of possibilities for long-term deals, only Soler is nearing the open market. While the 27-year-old has finally hit his stride, it’s debatable how wise it would be to lock into a bat-first corner outfielder. But there’s certainly merit to pursuing a deal at the right price. The other players listed have even more still to prove, though Mondesi does offer tantalizing upside as an extension candidate.

It remains to be seen whether talks will advance. There won’t be much of an impact on the 2020 outlook regardless. (It’s not terribly promising.) The most interesting question remaining, then, is whether the Royals will make a dedicated effort to find deals to move Duffy, Kennedy, or (especially) Merrifield.

Royals Release Jacob Barnes

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Nov. 8: Barnes has been released after clearing waivers, the Royals announced.

Nov. 6: The Royals have requested unconditional release waivers on Barnes, per a team announcement.

Nov. 4: The Royals announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Jacob Barnes for assignment. The club needed to open a 40-man roster spot to facilitate the reinstatement of Salvador Perez and Kelvin Gutierrez from the 60-day injured list. Kansas City will have a week to trade Barnes or run him through outright waivers, with the latter path seemingly the likelier of the two.

Barnes, 29, recorded a combined 3.54 ERA with 9.3 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and 0.8 HR/9 in 147 1/3 innings for the Brewers from 2016-18. The 2019 season was an all-out nightmare, however, as he was clobbered for an ERA just shy of 7.00 in 19 2/3 innings as a Brewer before allowing 13 runs (12 earned) in 13 innings with the Royals. Barnes’ 93.7 mph average fastball in 2019 was down three full miles per hour from its peak. Perhaps correspondingly, he’s experienced a six percent drop in swinging-strike rate and an eight percent dip in his opponents’ chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone.

NL Notes: Carpenter, Giants, Mets

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A quick look around the National League…

  • The 2019 season was surprisingly pedestrian for Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter, a normally excellent producer who fell flat after the team signed him to a two-year, $39MM extension in April. Carpenter stepped to the plate 492 times and hit a mediocre .226/.334/.392 with 15 home runs, giving him the lowest wRC+ (95) and fWAR (1.2) he has posted over a full season since debuting in 2011. But Carpenter, who will turn 34 later this month, seemingly hasn’t lost the confidence of Cardinals brass. ”‘Carp’ obviously will have a better season, we expect. He’s highly motivated,” chairman Bill DeWitt said this week (via Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). President of baseball operations John Mozeliak echoed that sentiment, saying the Cardinals’ confidence in Carpenter is “high” and calling this year “an outlier.” Of course, the Cardinals don’t have much choice but to publicly show faith in Carpenter, whom they’re likely stuck with because of the money left on his contract and his no-trade clause.
  • As of last week, Royals quality control coach Pedro Grifol was reportedly one of the finalists to become the Giants’ next manager. That no longer seems to be the case, though. Grifol is now completely out of the race, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea, who names ex-Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, current Astros bench coach Joe Espada and Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro as the last candidates standing. Grifol, Kapler, Espada and Quartaro make up four of 10-plus candidates who have interviewed with the Giants, per Shea. There’s no deadline to hire a new skipper, however, and with the Giants one of just two teams without a manager, there’s seemingly no reason to rush.
  • The Mets negotiated with relievers Daniel Hudson and Jake Diekman when they were free agents a year ago, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reports. The club ultimately didn’t land either, instead watching Hudson sign with the Angels on a minor league contract and Diekman land with the Royals for a guaranteed $2.75MM. Hudson then wound up with the Blue Jays and finished the season as a member of the Nationals, with whom he emerged as one of many key cogs during their improbable World Series run. Diekman concluded the campaign with the Athletics, who traded for him in July. Now that Hudson and Diekman are back on the open market, the Mets  – who remain in need of competent relievers – could again push for one or both, though there’s no indication they plan on doing so.

Giants Announce Series Of Roster Moves

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The Giants announced a flurry of roster moves, claiming infielder Kean Wong from the Angels and right-hander Trevor Oaks from the Royals. The Giants also formally announced their previously reported claim of righty Rico Garcia from the Rockies organization. In order to open space on for the trio of new additions, San Francisco designated outfielder Mike Gerber and right-hander Ricardo Pinto for assignment.

Wong’s time in the Angels organization will ultimately last barely more than a month. The Halos claimed him from the Rays near the end of the season, and the 24-year-old went hitless in four plate appearances in the lone game for which he suited up with the team. Wong, the younger brother of Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong, was the Rays’ fourth-round pick back in the 2013 draft and made his MLB debut as a September call-up with Tampa Bay. Between his six games with the Rays and one game with the Angels, he went 3-for-18.

Wong spent the rest of the season with Triple-A Durham, where he logged his second consecutive above-average season at the plate. After hitting .282/.345/.406 with nine homers, 23 doubles, three triples and seven steals in 2018, he turned in a .307/.375/.464 slash with 10 homers, 29 doubles, six triples and six steals in 2019. Offense was elevated throughout the league in Triple-A this season, but Wong’s output checked in at 16 percent better than league average, as measured by wRC+. Primarily been a second baseman in his minor league career, Wong began logging time at third base and in the outfield beginning in 2018 as the Rays looked to enhance his versatility.

Oaks, meanwhile, is a known commodity for Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. The 26-year-old Oaks was a seventh-round pick by Zaidi’s former club, the Dodgers, back in 2014 and was traded to Kansas City in a three-team swap while Zaidi was serving as general manager under L.A. president of baseball ops Andrew Friedman.

At the time of that trade, which sent Scott Alexander to Los Angeles, Oaks was ranked in the middle of the Dodgers’ farm system. He looked like a potential back-of-the-rotation option but has seen his prospect status derailed by hip surgery that wiped out his 2019 season. He was healthy enough to take the ball in the Arizona Fall League this year, though, where he allowed six earned runs on 14 hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts in 12 innings of work.

Oaks was hit hard in his MLB debut in 2018 but did put together 128 1/3 innings of 3.23 ERA ball with Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate that season. Unfortunately, he averaged a dismal 4.9 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 along the way — though his 50.8 percent ground-ball rate was a bit more encouraging. For now, Oaks will add some upper-level depth to the Giants roster.

None of the three players claimed today, however, should be considered any kind of lock to survive the winter on the Giants’ roster. Zaidi and his staff have been known to aggressively claim players off waivers in hopes of successfully passing that player through waivers themselves shortly thereafter as a means of keeping those new talents without dedicating a 40-man roster spot.

As for the players cut loose — neither is particularly surprising. Gerber, 27, went 1-for-24 in his brief time with the Giants at the MLB level, though he did author an impressive .308/.368/.569 batting line with 26 homers in Triple-A. The former Tigers prospect had never hit much in Triple-A before that, however, and he’ll turn 28 next summer.

Pinto, meanwhile, was a September waiver claim out of the Rays organization who never pitched in a game for San Francisco. He allowed four runs in 2 1/3 innings with Tampa Bay this season in addition to 123 1/3 innings of 4.23 ERA ball at the Triple-A level. The Giants have seven days to trade, release or waive Gerber and Pinto.

Royals Decline Mutual Option On Alex Gordon

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The Royals announced today that they have declined their side of a mutual option over outfielder Alex Gordon. He exercised his end of the option, meaning he’ll receive a $4MM buyout.

There was never any question of this outcome. The mutual option was valued at a hefty $23MM, far outstripping Gordon’s present-day on-field abilities.

It remains unknown whether Gordon will return to play in 2020. All indications are that he’ll only suit up for Kansas City if he does wish to continue his career. The organization has indicated interest in a return, but it’d surely come at a much lower price point.

Gordon, 35, is still a qualify defender and surely represents a valuable clubhouse presence, but there’s no reason to think his bat will perk back up. He showed a bit of a spark at times in 2019 but still finished with only a .266/.345/.396 batting line. That’s the fourth consecutive campaign of below-average offensive output for Gordon, who hasn’t topped a .400 slugging percentage since the season preceding his just-concluded contract.

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