Royals Rumors

Bobby Witt Jr. Makes Royals’ Opening Day Roster

By Mark Polishuk | April 2, 2022 at 6:37pm CDT

The Royals will be placing Bobby Witt Jr. on their Opening Day roster, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The superstar prospect and second overall pick of the 2019 draft is set to officially begin his big league career when the Royals host the Guardians on Thursday.

There was no doubt that Witt would be making his big league debut at some point this season, as his .285/.352/.581 slash line over 285 Triple-A plate appearances in 2021 indicated that he was very ready for the next step. Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore said last month that Witt would get the “opportunity” to earn his way onto the Opening Day roster, and Witt has only cemented his case after crushing Spring Training pitching.

The new Collective Bargaining Agreement may have also removed an obstacle to Witt’s chances of breaking camp with the Royals. Under the old CBA, the team would have been tempted to leave Witt in the minors long enough to ensure that he wouldn’t gain a full year of service time in 2022, thus giving the Royals an extra year of control over Witt’s services through the 2028 season.

However, the “Prospect Promotion Incentive” in the new labor deal creates the possibility that Kansas City could earn a bonus pick in the 2023 amateur draft if Witt is on the roster for a full year of service time, and if he finishes in the top tier of awards consideration (a top-two finish in AL Rookie Of The Year balloting, a top-five MVP finish, or placement on the first or second-team All-MLB lineup).

Naturally, Witt’s status as one of the game’s top prospects qualifies him as one of the minor leaguers eligible for this PPI plan. Baseball Prospectus and MLB Pipeline each listed Witt atop their most recent rankings of the game’s best minor leaguers, while Fangraphs and Keith Law both ranked Witt second, and Baseball America third. This kind of praise has followed Witt for years, as he is regarded as a five-tool talent by most evaluators.

Originally drafted as a shortstop, Witt is set to begin his career as a third baseman, owing to the presence of Adalberto Mondesi and Nicky Lopez in the middle infield. There is some fluidity in that alignment, as Mondesi is an injury risk, and Whit Merrifield would likely move back to second base in the event that Lopez has to step in at shortstop. Keeping Witt at third base might be the smoothest choice for his development, however, as Witt could stay at the hot corner in more or less uninterrupted fashion, rather than juggling between different positions on a regular basis. If Witt was moved to shortstop or even second base, K.C. could use Hunter Dozier back at third base.

Roster Notes: Nationals, A’s, Royals

By TC Zencka | April 2, 2022 at 1:17pm CDT

Andrew Stevenson of the Nationals has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, per the team. Stevenson can provide solid defense and baserunning, but those aren’t particular needs for a Washington team planning to start Lane Thomas and Victor Robles alongside superstar Juan Soto. Yadiel Hernandez and Gerardo Parra are the pure outfielders remaining in camp with a chance to win the fourth outfielder spot, while Ehire Adrianza is also capable of playing in the grass. As for Stevenson, he will have 48 hours to accept his assignment or elect free agency. Let’s check in on some other roster updates from around the game…

The A’s have optioned southpaw Sam Selman to Triple-A, per the team, lowering the number of players in camp to 38. Selman appeared in each of the past three seasons with the Giants, but also made 18 appearances with the Angels after being acquired as part of the Tony Watson deal. Oakland later claimed Selman off waivers. He’ll continue to serve as bullpen depth in Oakland for the time being.
The Royals announced a handful of minor league assignments today. Colten Brewer, Jose Cuas, Brad Peacock and Arodys Vizcaino; infielders Gabriel Cancel, Iván Castillo, Clay Dungan and Vinnie Pasquantino; and outfielders Dairon Blanco, Brewer Hicken and JaCoby Jones were all assigned to minor league camp.

Royals Exercise 2023 Option On Manager Mike Matheny

By Steve Adams | March 31, 2022 at 9:34am CDT

The Royals announced Thursday that they’ve exercised their 2023 club option on manager Mike Matheny. He’d previously been set to enter the final guaranteed season of his original three-year deal.

Matheny, 51, is entering his third season as Kansas City’s skipper after succeeding longtime manager Ned Yost. The Royals have gone 100-122 under him since he took the helm, though the 2022 and 2023 seasons will be more telling in terms of the team’s record. Kansas City’s hopes for returning to contention rest in no small part on the development of top prospects like Bobby Witt Jr., Nick Pratto, MJ Melendez and a host of young pitching options (e.g. Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar, Kris Bubic, Jonathan Heasley). Everyone from that group figures to contribute at the MLB level in 2022 and certainly by 2023 — and the team’s performance in those pivotal seasons will be more reflective than their 2020-21 records.

That said, the Royals are an immensely loyal organization and could well explore a contract extension of more substance with Matheny before even seeing how the 2023 season plays out. Managerial performance is evaluated now, more than ever, on far more than just the win-loss column. Yost himself serves as proof of that, as even in spite of a 2014 World Series appearance and a 2015 World Series win, the Royals only had three winning records during his decade-long tenure (during which they went 746-839 on the whole).

The Royals hired Matheny as a special assistant to the front office and an instructor in camp a year before Yost’s retirement, suggesting that the former Cardinals skipper was being groomed as Yost’s successor well before the move became official. Matheny, who also managed the Cardinals for seven seasons, has a 691-596 record in nine big league seasons and was the runner-up in 2015 National League Manager of the Year voting. The Cardinals reached the World Series under him in 2013 but fell to the Red Sox in six games.

AL Central Notes: Kelly, Melendez, Naylor, Guardians

By Mark Polishuk | March 27, 2022 at 2:29pm CDT

The White Sox knew when they signed Joe Kelly that the righty likely wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season, and the reliever tells Daryl Van Schouwen of The Chicago Sun-Times that he is targeting late April for his Pale Hose debut. Biceps tightness sidelined Kelly while he was pitching with the Dodgers in the NLCS last October, and it has resulted in his now being a few weeks behind the other pitchers in terms of readiness for Opening Day.

Fortunately, Kelly reported that he isn’t feeling any pain, and “the ball is coming out good for where they expected it to be, the body is moving a lot quicker. We’re just making sure we stay with the game plan and don’t push it.” Chicago’s two-year, $17MM deal (with a club option for 2024) with Kelly added the veteran reliever to an already stacked bullpen, and the Sox look to have assembled one of baseball’s deepest relief corps, even if Craig Kimbrel is still a potential trade candidate.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 3/21/22

By Anthony Franco | March 21, 2022 at 10:12pm CDT

Tomorrow afternoon is the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to exchange filing figures. Some players will go to hearings that will linger into the regular season, but many others will be motivated to settle on a contract before that point. A few early agreements have trickled in throughout the day. All projected salaries are from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

The Royals announced this evening they’ve agreed to terms with infielder Adalberto Mondesi. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports (via Twitter) he’ll make $3MM, a hair under his $3.2MM projection. Mondesi was limited to 35 games and 136 plate appearances by various injuries this past season. He posted a .230/.271/.452 line with six homers and 15 stolen bases — an encapsulation of both Mondesi’s enviable combination of power and speed, as well as his concerning plate discipline. Kansas City can control him through 2023.
The Guardians and shortstop/outfielder Amed Rosario are settling at $4.95MM, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN (via Twitter). That’s right in line with his $5MM projection. Acquired from the Mets last offseason, the former top prospect hit .282/.321/.409 with 11 homers and 13 steals over 588 plate appearances. Rosario comes with one additional season of club control, as Cleveland can keep him around through 2023.
The Reds and utilityman Nick Senzel have settled at $1.25MM, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (on Twitter). That’s narrowly above his $1.1MM projection. Senzel, a former #2 overall pick and top prospect, has had trouble staying healthy in recent years. He’s taken 616 cumulative plate appearances in his first three big league seasons, including just 124 trips to the plate last year. The 26-year-old is a career .246/.308/.396 hitter and remains controllable through 2025 after qualifying for early arbitration as a Super Two player this year.
The Reds also agreed to terms with outfielder Tyler Naquin, Murray reports (Twitter link). It’s a $4.025MM deal, a bit north of his $3.6MM projection. The lefty-hitting Naquin picked up a career-high 454 plate appearances last season, hitting a solid .270/.333/.477 with 19 home runs. Defensive metrics weren’t fond of his work, but Naquin still looks likely to see plenty of action at all three outfield spots this season. He’ll reach free agency at the end of the year.
Murray reports the Blue Jays and right-hander Ross Stripling have settled at $3.79MM, a few hundred thousand dollars under his $4.4MM projection. A successful starter early in his career with the Dodgers, Stripling has stumbled over the past couple seasons. He posted a 4.80 ERA in 101 1/3 innings this past season and looks as if he’ll begin this year in a swing role after Toronto’s offseason efforts to bolster the rotation. Stripling will hit the open market after the season.

AL Central Notes: Twins, Royals, Greinke, Rosario,

By Steve Adams and Sean Bavazzano | March 17, 2022 at 9:59pm CDT

Zack Greinke is headed back to the Royals on a one-year deal worth $13MM, but Kansas City faced some competition from a division rival in securing his services. The Twins made a “strong push” to sign Greinke before he landed back in K.C., tweets Darren Wolfson of SKOR North radio. Wolfson speculates that in the end, the allure of returning to his original organization may have simply proven too strong for Minnesota or another organization to overcome once the Royals jumped into the bidding.

The Twins have been one of the most active clubs on the trade market since the lockout ended, but they’ve yet to make a serious move in free agency this offseason — either pre- or post-lockout. Minnesota has added Sonny Gray, Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez via trade and rolled the dice on an affordable Dylan Bundy flier ($5MM with a 2023 club option) in free agency, but there’s still work to be done in the rotation, at shortstop and in the bullpen. They’ve been talking to the A’s about lefty Sean Manaea and righty Frankie Montas, and they’ve also reportedly been in touch with Trevor Story about a potential deal.

Here’s more from the division…

Speaking of Greinke, the new Royals right-hander told reporters that he is not planning for the 2022 season to be his last, per Josh Vernier of 610 Sports Radio’s. It’s a welcome piece of news for fans of the enigmatic pitcher, who will gear up for his twentieth year in the Majors if he lands on an active roster in 2023. The longtime ace isn’t just looking to pad his Hall of Fame credentials either, as he’s coming off a season where he posted a useful 4.16 ERA in 171 innings. Though Greinke’s strikeout and home run rates trended in the wrong direction last year his ability to pound the strike zone and eat innings make up a skillset that will surely appeal to teams.
The Guardians have a huge need in the outfield and a massive stockpile of high-end middle infield talent on the cusp of MLB readiness, which has prompted a good bit of speculation about them trading for some outfield help. However, manager Terry Francona told reporters yesterday that he currently plans to have 2021 shortstop Amed Rosario split his time between short and left field, which could create some additional opportunities for that surplus of middle infield prospects (Twitter link via Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer). Rosario, 26, posted a .282/.321/.409 batting line in 588 plate appearances last season — spending the vast majority of his time at shortstop. He did see 123 innings in the outfield, mostly in center, with lackluster defensive ratings. It’s still possible that Cleveland will pick up some more established outfield help one way or another, but for now it looks like Myles Straw will reprise his role in center and be flanked by a combination of Rosario, Bradley Zimmer, Oscar Mercado and top prospect Steven Kwan in the corners.

Royals Interested In Frankie Montas

By Steve Adams | March 17, 2022 at 8:43am CDT

March 17: Even after signing Zack Greinke yesterday, the Royals are still discussing Montas trade scenarios with the A’s, tweets Alec Lewis of The Athletic.

March 16: The Royals, who just trimmed more than $7MM in payroll in their surprising Mike Minor trade, are among the teams pursuing Athletics right-hander Frankie Montas, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. If Montas goes elsewhere, Rosenthal adds that the Royals still hope to add a veteran right-handed starter with some of their newfound payroll space.

Montas is among the most popular players remaining on the trade market, having been linked in recent days to the Twins, White Sox, Yankees and now the Royals. Other clubs are surely working diligently to pry the soon-to-be 29-year-old righty away from Oakland.

That’s hardly a surprise, given the Athletics’ clear willingness to trade veterans and the strong year Montas put together in 2021. Last year, the hard-throwing righty tossed 187 innings of 3.37 ERA ball while notching a strong 26.6% strikeout rate against a 7.3% walk rate. Projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $5.2MM this coming season, Montas is controlled via arbitration through the 2023 campaign.

The Royals, as currently constructed, would be heavily reliant on a collection of talented but largely unproven young starters in a season where they hope to return to competitive status within a relatively weak AL Central division. Brad Keller is the team’s most veteran starter now that Minor has been moved, but he’s in need of a rebound after a career-worst performance in 2021. Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Carlos Hernandez, Kris Bubic, Jackson Kowar and Jonathan Heasley will all be in the mix for rotation opportunities, but of that group, only Singer has had much in the way of sustained MLB success — and even he is looking to rebound after something of a sophomore slump.

Kansas City, heartened by the looming debuts of ballyhooed prospects like Bobby Witt Jr., Nick Pratto, MJ Melendez and others, hope that the strength of their young core can help lift them in the standings. Acquiring Montas would substantially boost their chances of doing so, although the mere fact that they’re in pursuit of him serves as further indication that in spite of a mostly quiet offseason, the organization believes the window to compete is opening.

Royals Sign Zack Greinke

By Steve Adams | March 16, 2022 at 4:42pm CDT

5:44pm: To make room for Greinke on the 40-man roster, the club has placed Tyler Zuber on the 60-day IL, per various reports, including Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Zuber has right shoulder impingement syndrome and will miss the start of the season.

4:42pm: The Royals have formally announced the signing.

2:48pm: Zack Greinke is going back to his roots. The free-agent righty has agreed to a one-year deal with the Royals, pending the completion of a physical, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Greinke, a client of Excel Sports Management, will be guaranteed $13MM and can earn another $2MM via innings-based incentives, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

The 38-year-old Greinke isn’t the fireballing ace that he was toward the end of his first run with the Royals, but he remains an effective innings eater. He’ll return to his old stomping ground as the elder statesman on what figures to be an extremely young staff who’ll no doubt want to soak up as much pitching knowledge as possible from the 18-yeasr big league veteran.

Greinke spent the past two-plus seasons with the Astros after being traded from Arizona to Houston in a buzzer-beating deal at the 2019 trade deadline. Greinke’s once blazing fastball averaged just 89 mph in 2021 and his strikeout rate dipped, but he’s maintained pristine command of the strike zone (5.2% walk rate). Since 2020, Greinke has a 4.12 ERA in 238 innings for Houston, although his 2021 season would’ve looked considerably better were it not for a late September swoon.

Through his first 26 starts in 2021, Greinke pitched to a strong 3.41 ERA. Fielding-independent metrics were still a bit down on him because of the lack of punchouts (17.5% in that stretch), but Greinke yielded a paltry 87.7 mph average exit velocity in that time and had a 33% opponents’ hard-hit rate. Greinke tested positive for Covid-19 at the end of August and went back on the IL in late September due to neck soreness. It’s not clear that either had a direct impact on his results, although it’s certainly possible that he wasn’t pitching at 100% down the stretch. The results seem to suggest as much, as Greinke was tattooed for 21 runs in his final 15 1/3 innings of work.

Even if Greinke should be projected for more of a low-4.00s ERA than the mid-3.00 range he sat for much of the 2021 season, he’ll still be a valuable and reliable source of innings for the Royals. He’s made at least 28 appearances in 11 of the past 14 seasons, with the exceptions being the shortened 2020 season (when he made all 12 of his starts) and the 2016 season (when he missed a month with an oblique injury but still started 26 games).

For a Royals club that expects to give the bulk of its innings to young and/or unproven starters — Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar, Kris Bubic, Carlos Hernandez, Jonathan Heasley — the ability to confidently pencil Greinke in for around 30 starts and 170-plus frames is especially important. Brad Keller is currently the only starter on the staff with more than two years of Major League service time, but he’s in search of a rebound from a career-worst performance this past season.

The deal for Greinke ostensibly came together in fairly quick fashion. Kansas City traded Mike Minor to the Royals just this afternoon, and reports immediately following the deal suggested that they were in the hunt for rotation upgrades. Although they’re said to have checked in with the A’s about a potential Frankie Montas deal, it’ll be Greinke who joins the staff to help stabilize the group and, ideally, help guide the Royals back to a winning record

Subtracting Minor and adding Greinke’s larger salary brings the Royals up to a projected payroll of a bit more than $93MM, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That’s nowhere near the franchise record $143MM from 2017, but that payroll was buoyed by a pair of consecutive World Series appearances achieved by the Royals’ former core. The fact that they felt compelled to move Minor and save some money on his salary before adding Greinke suggests that new owner John Sherman, who purchased the team in 2019, isn’t comfortable pushing payroll back to those 2017 levels at this time.

It’s possible that further additions will follow for the Royals. They’ve reportedly sought ways to trade Carlos Santana, both as a means of clearing playing time for top prospect Nick Pratto and also in order to shed the veteran’s $10.5MM salary. If president of baseball operations Dayton Moore manages to find a Santana deal similar to this afternoon’s Minor trade, additional veteran reinforcements could be on the way to help supplement a young Royals team that’ll see the debuts of Pratto and top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. early in the 2022 season.

Royals, Reds Swap Mike Minor For Amir Garrett

By Steve Adams | March 16, 2022 at 12:39pm CDT

The Royals have traded left-handed starter Mike Minor and cash to the Reds in exchange for left-handed reliever Amir Garrett, per announcements from both teams.

Minor, 34, is headed into the second season of a two-year, $18MM contract originally signed with Kansas City. He’s due $10MM this season, plus a $1MM buyout on a mutual option for the 2023 season. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that the Royals are covering that $1MM buyout. Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer adds that Kansas City is also covering $500K of Minor’s salary. That leaves the Reds on the hook for about $7.3MM in additional salary commitments, when factoring in the projected $2.2MM (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) that would’ve gone to the arbitration-eligible Garrett.

It’s frankly bizarre to see Cincinnati take on cash to acquire a struggling veteran starter, considering they commenced their offseason by placing a highly productive veteran starter, Wade Miley, on outright waivers — content to just give him away in order to save the same $10MM salary that is owed to Minor. The move to add Minor, who has an ERA north of 5.00 in each of his past two seasons, is a clear downgrade over simply keeping Miley. One can also imagine that if the goal was to add a veteran to the staff after trading Sonny Gray, there were options in free agency at a similar or even lesser price point.

Minor has been a durable source of innings over the past four years, starting at least 28 games in each full season and another 11 during the shortened 2020 campaign. However, he posted a 5.05 ERA in Kansas City through last year’s 158 1/3 innings, punching out 22.3% of his opponents against a strong 6.1% walk rate. Metrics like FIP (4.29) and SIERA (4.20) feel Minor’s strikeout and walk rates ought to have yielded a better ERA, but it’s quite a bet for him to bounce back when factoring in how the change of scenery could adversely impact Minor. As a fly-ball pitcher whose biggest Achilles heel during that time has been a susceptibility to home runs (1.43 HR/9 since 2018), the move to Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park seems like a poor fit (particularly at a time when the National League is adding the designated hitter).

Perhaps the Reds plan to explore additional trade scenarios surrounding Minor. Perhaps they believe pitching coach Derek Johnson, who coached Minor at Vanderbilt more than a decade ago, can help Minor return to form. Whatever the motivation behind the trade, it’s strange to see Cincinnati going out of its way to add salary after so aggressively finding ways to cut payroll over the past 18 months. In a vacuum, the trade for Minor is a sensible enough bet on a rebound for a prominent veteran — but in the context of the Reds’ recent string of transactions, it’s just rather puzzling.

As for the Royals, they’ll add a hard-throwing lefty with big bat-missing ability who has never quite put things together for a prolonged run of success. The 29-year-old Garrett averages 95 mph on his heater and has fanned just under 30% of his opponents dating back to 2018, but he’s also susceptible to walks (12.1%) and home runs (1.36 HR/9). Home runs have been a particular issue for Garrett over the past two seasons, although a move out of Cincinnati and into the spacious Kauffman Stadium could help him cut back on those long balls.

Garrett is controlled through the 2023 season via arbitration, so if the new environs can finally coax some consistency from him, he could be a vital piece of the Royals’ relief corps. Beyond the strikeouts and velocity, Garrett ranks 14th among all qualified relievers with a 15.7% swinging-strike rate since 2019, so the potential for a breakout is there. He’ll join a Kansas City bullpen that is increasingly deep in hard-throwing arms who can miss bats, pairing with righties like Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow as well as southpaw Jake Brentz.

Odalis Perez Passes Away

By Darragh McDonald | March 10, 2022 at 8:09pm CDT

Former big league lefty Odalis Perez has tragically passed away, reports Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital. (On Twitter) Gomez relays that the former member of the Braves, Dodgers, Royals and Nationals “suffered a blow to the head after falling from a ladder.” He was 44 years old.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Perez began his MLB career with the Braves in September of 1998, just a few months after his 21st birthday. He appeared in ten games out of the bullpen, throwing 10 2/3 innings with an ERA of 4.22. He followed that up with a 1999 season that saw him make 18 appearances, 17 of those being starts, throwing 93 innings with an even 6.00 ERA. After missing the entirety of the 2000 campaign due to injury, he bounced back in 2001 and logged 95 1/3 innings with an ERA of 4.91.

Prior to the 2002 campaign, Perez and two other Braves were part of a huge trade, going to the Dodgers in the deal that sent Gary Sheffield to Atlanta. That year, Perez had the best season of his career, throwing 222 1/3 innings over 32 starts with an ERA of 3.00. He racked up 155 strikeouts and finished the season with a record of 15-10. He was selected to the National League All-Star team that year.

Perez went on to be a mainstay of the Dodgers’ rotation for another three and a half seasons before being dealt to the Royals in July of 2006. He and two other Dodgers were traded to Kansas City for Elmer Dessens. He pitched out of the Royals’ rotation for the remainder of that season as well as the 2007 campaign.

In 2008, he signed a minor league deal with the Nationals, eventually having his contract selected and making the Opening Day start for the club. He allowed a fourth-inning home run to Chipper Jones, which was the first long ball in the history of Nationals Park. That season would ultimately prove to be his last MLB action. All told, he finished his career having played in 252 games, making 221 starts, throwing 1,335 innings with an ERA of 4.46. He racked up 920 strikeouts, four complete games and two shutouts.

We at MLB Trade Rumors offer condolences to the Perez family, as well as his many friends, fans and loved ones.

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