Royals Rumors

Royals Outright Hanser Alberto, Scott Blewett

By Anthony Franco | October 29, 2021 at 4:08pm CDT

The Royals announced that infielder Hanser Alberto and right-hander Scott Blewett have cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. Kansas City’s 40-man roster tally now sits at 38, but they have an additional four players on the 60-day injured list who will need to be reinstated before the start of the offseason.

Alberto had been eligible for arbitration, so the Royals’ designation will function as an early non-tender. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Alberto to land a $2.1MM salary in 2022, a price the club deemed too high after a below-average showing. It’s the second consecutive winter in which Alberto has been cut loose, as the Orioles non-tendered him last offseason.

Baltimore’s regular second baseman from 2019-20, Alberto signed a minor league deal with K.C. and cracked the Opening Day roster, locking in a $1.65MM salary. He spent the year in a utility role, starting games at each of third base, second base and shortstop. Over 255 plate appearances, the 29-year-old hit .270/.291/.402 with a pair of home runs.

Alberto has been one of the game’s tougher players to strike out in recent years, helping him post consistently strong batting averages. That has come with virtually no walks or power, though, capping his overall value. By measure of wRC+, Alberto was sixteen percentage points below the league average this past season, and his 1.4% walk rate was the second-lowest mark of the 362 hitters with 200+ plate appearances. He might be looking at another minors pact this winter.

Blewett was not arbitration eligible, but the Kansas City front office evidently determined they didn’t wish to devote him a 40-man roster spot all winter. Blewett was passed through outright waivers in April but re-selected to the big league club in September. He tossed five innings of one-run ball there, but he was far less effective with Triple-A Omaha.

The 25-year-old Blewett worked in a swing capacity for the Storm Chasers, tossing 69 innings in 23 appearances (including ten starts). He posted a 6.39 ERA, largely on account of the nineteen homers he served up. The Royals’ second-round pick in 2014, Blewett now hits the open market and could find himself in a different organization for the first time in his pro career.

AL Notes: Athletics Ballpark, Santana, Orioles, Yankees

By Mark Polishuk | October 28, 2021 at 1:04pm CDT

The Alameda County board of supervisors voted (by a 4-1 margin) Tuesday to join the Athletics and the city of Oakland in the team’s attempts to construct a new ballpark at the Howard Terminal site in Oakland. The county’s agreement is non-binding, and as Annie Sciacca of The Bay Area News Group explains, many steps remain before construction can or would actually begin on a new A’s stadium, or how financing for the development project would break down between the county, city, and the team. Still, “I think our willingness to at least go further based on the motion gives the county the opportunity to do more due diligence around this,” supervisor Nate Miley said.

Bubba Starling Announces Retirement

By James Hicks and Steve Adams | October 26, 2021 at 12:26pm CDT

Outfielder Bubba Starling, a former two-sport star and top prospect, has announced his retirement via Facebook post, reports Alec Lewis of the Athletic. Mooted as a potential top overall pick in the 2011 draft, Starling never quite blossomed after the Royals nabbed him with the fifth overall selection. Starling retires with a career line of .204/.246/.298 line across 261 plate appearances in parts of two big league seasons.

Starling was long touted as a future building block for the Royals. Also a star quarterback in high school football star who’d committed to the University of Nebraska, he was seen as a raw bundle of virtually unparalleled athleticism in his draft class. He ripped through the Rookie-level Appalachian League in his first pro season (2012), and for the first two years of his pro career was widely considered among the game’s most promising farmhands.

Starling’s bat began to stall out in the low minors, however, and his offensive output never fully caught up with his off-the-charts raw tools. He looked to perhaps be turning a corner when he hit .310/.358/.448 through 72 games with Triple-A Omaha in 2019 and received his first call to the big leagues, but Starling produced a .204/.246/.298 batting line through 261 plate appearances in parts of two Major League seasons. Though his big league dreams may not have been realized, Starling did suit up as a member of Team USA’s Olympic roster this year, going 2-for-7 with a pair of RBIs and helping the United States to a Silver Medal.

While this week’s announcement closes the door on a tantalizing talent that captured the intrigue of Royals fans — and baseball fans at large — credit goes to Starling for grinding out a decade-long career in pro ball. The determination required to grind through eight seasons of sky-high expectations and make a Major League debut in 2019 is commendable in and of itself, and at 29 years of age, he could well have other opportunities in the game available to him in the coming years, should he choose to go that route.

Royals, Dodgers Complete Danny Duffy Trade

By Anthony Franco | October 20, 2021 at 11:00pm CDT

The Royals announced they’ve acquired right-handed pitching prospect Zach Willeman from the Dodgers. The move completes the clubs’ July 29 deal that sent left-hander Danny Duffy to Los Angeles.

Willeman, 25, is a former 19th-round pick by Los Angeles. A starter early in his minor league career, he worked exclusively out of the bullpen this past season with Double-A Tulsa. Over 47 2/3 frames of relief, he pitched to a 3.78 ERA with an above-average 28.2% strikeout rate but an elevated 11% walk percentage. The Royals will need to add Willeman to the 40-man roster or leave him exposed in the upcoming Rule 5 draft. If he earns a spot on the 40-man, he could be a bullpen option at the big league level at some point next season.

The Dodgers ultimately got nothing out of their low-cost flier on Duffy. The veteran southpaw was on the injured list with a flexor strain at the time of the deal. Expected to return a few weeks after the trade, Duffy unfortunately had a setback and was shut down for the season. He’ll be a free agent this winter.

Royals Promote Angel Zerpa

By Anthony Franco | September 30, 2021 at 6:42pm CDT

The Royals announced the promotion of southpaw Angel Zerpa to start this evening’s game against the Indians. It’ll be his major league debut. He was added to the 40-man roster last winter to keep him from selection in the Rule 5 draft, so no move was needed in that regard. Southpaw Daniel Lynch was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hand contusion to clear active roster space.

Kansas City has brought up a slew of pitching prospects over the past couple seasons. Zerpa isn’t seen as the same caliber of talent as players like Lynch, Brady Singer, and Jackson Kowar, but he’s still viewed as one of the top handful of pitching prospects in the system. Entering the year, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs slotted Zerpa as the #10 farmhand in the Kansas City organization, while Baseball America placed him 20th on their midseason update.

Both outlets note that Zerpa doesn’t throw especially hard — his sinker typically ranges from 90-94 MPH — but he draws praise for his advanced strike-throwing acumen and secondary offerings, especially his mid-80s changeup. Longenhagen suggests Zerpa could settle into the back of the rotation in the future, while BA projects him as a likely reliever.

Zerpa will break into the big leagues as a starter, although he could be an option to work in either capacity for the Royals fairly early next season. He’s only made one career Triple-A appearance, so he seems likely to begin the year in the minors. But the Kansas City front office clearly believes Zerpa’s not far away from being a regular big league contributor.

While Zerpa had never pitched above Rookie ball before this season, the Royals added him to the 40-man last November because they believed it plausible another club could fast-track him to the big leagues as a Rule 5 pick to gain his long-term control rights. He’ll indeed make it to the majors just a few days after his 22nd birthday, the culmination of a four-level journey this season.

Zerpa has a 4.58 ERA in 88 1/3 minor league innings this year. He began the campaign in High-A and posted a sterling 2.59 mark. An inflated .370 batting average on balls in play after a promotion to Double-A led to a 5.96 ERA at that level, but he posted high-end strikeout and walk rates (28.9% and 7.4%, respectively) across all three levels. That showing earns Zerpa a late-season audition in the big leagues.

Royals’ Richard Lovelady Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

By Steve Adams | September 30, 2021 at 8:00am CDT

Royals left-hander Richard Lovelady announced late last night on Instagram that he underwent Tommy John surgery this week. It’s not entirely out of the blue, as the 26-year-old southpaw was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in late August.

Tommy John surgery will quite likely wipe out the entirety of the 2022 season for Lovelady, as most pitchers require more than a year of rehab work. The Cardinals’ Dakota Hudson is one recent exception, but even he returned just four days shy of his operation’s one-year anniversary. It’s technically possible that Lovelady could be ready late next September, but precedent very strongly suggests Spring Training 2023 is a likelier target date.

Losing Lovelady for a full year’s time is a notable hit to Kansas City’s bullpen outlook next season. Long rated as one of the organization’s most promising relief prospects, Lovelady has dominated in the minors and, in 2021, had begun to carry that success over to the big leagues. While Lovelady struggled in 21 MLB frames from 2019-20, he pitched to a 3.48 ERA with strong strikeout (27.1), walk (7.1) and ground-ball (56.6) percentages in 20 2/3 innings this year. Combine that success with a career 2.12 ERA in the minor leagues, including a 2.51 mark in 107 1/3 Triple-A frames, and it’s easy to see why the organization is increasingly bullish on the lefty’s future.

The recent injury surely doesn’t change the Royals’ view that Lovelady can be a big part of their pitching staff down the road, but the wait for him to cement himself as such will now be further prolonged. That said, the Royals still control Lovelady all the way through the 2026 season, so even if he’s not back on a big league mound until 2023, they could still enjoy four full seasons of the talented lefty before he’s eligible to test the free-agent market. He’ll accrue a year of service time and big league pay next year on the 60-day injured list due to the fact that the injury occurred while he was pitching on the big league roster.

Looking ahead to the 2022 campaign, the Royals will lean heavily on the late-inning duo of Scott Barlow and Josh Staumont to close things down, while lefty Jake Brentz and righty Domingo Tapia have quite likely punched their tickets for a spot on the big league staff as well. Bullpen help, however, already figured to be a priority for the Kansas City front office this winter. Losing one of the team’s more promising arms for the majority or entirety of next season only makes that an even likelier area of focus for newly promoted president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, general manager J.J. Piccolo and the rest of the Royals’ baseball ops department.

Front Office Notes: Padres, Rangers, Phillies, Royals

By Anthony Franco | September 29, 2021 at 10:25pm CDT

As the offseason nears, we’ve started to see some movement of front office personnel across teams. A few clubs have made significant changes to their executive staffs over the past few days.

Rangers assistant general manager Mike Daly is departing the organization to join the Padres’ front office, reports Jeff Wilson. (Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reported this morning that Daly and the Friars were in talks). Daly had spent fifteen years with Texas working in international scouting and player development, the last five of which had come as assistant GM. He’ll now reunite with former Rangers’ executive A.J. Preller in San Diego. Daly becomes the second Rangers’ AGM in as many months to leave the organization; Shiraz Rehman departed in August, as the front office structure in Arlington continues to evolve under president of baseball ops Jon Daniels and first-year GM Chris Young.
While the Padres added one executive, they saw another depart. San Diego coordinator of advance scouting Preston Mattingly was hired as Phillies director of player development. (Dennis Lin of the Athletic first reported the news). Mattingly, the son of Marlins’ manager Don Mattingly and a former first-round draft choice, had spent the past five seasons with the Friars. The Padres have already seen quite a bit of turnover in the front office on the heels of their second half collapse.
The Royals announced a pair of promotions yesterday. Lonnie Goldberg has been promoted from assistant GM/amateur scouting to vice president of player personnel, while Danny Ontiveros has been bumped up from assistant director of scouting to scouting director. Both Goldberg and Ontiveros have been in the Kansas City organization for well over a decade, with much of that time spent in the club’s scouting department. Earlier this month, the Royals bumped longtime baseball operations leader Dayton Moore up to president of baseball operations, promoted AGM J.J. Piccolo to general manager, and brought veteran executive Gene Watson back into the fold after he departed Kansas City to join the Angels last winter.

Royals Extend Michael A. Taylor

By Anthony Franco | September 29, 2021 at 4:07pm CDT

The Royals announced an agreement to keep center fielder Michael A. Taylor from hitting the open market this winter. Taylor receives a two-year, $9MM guarantee, paid out via successive $4.5MM salaries in 2022 and 2023. He’d receive an additional $50K for hitting the 325, 375, 425, 475 and 525 plate appearance mark in each season, with up to $500K in total incentives available. Taylor is represented by ALIGND Sports Agency.

It’s a bit surprising at first glance to see Kansas City jump the market to extend Taylor, who is amidst a below-average year at the plate in his first season in Royal blue. Across 508 plate appearances, the 30-year-old owns a .244/.298/.359 line with twelve home runs. Even after accounting for Kansas City’s extremely pitcher-friendly home ballpark, Taylor’s offensive numbers check in around 21 percentage points below league average according to wRC+.

That’s right in line with his typical production. The right-handed hitter spent the first seven seasons of his big league career with the Nationals, generally struggling to produce much offensively. Taylor has flashed intriguing power potential at times, but he’s been held back by a propensity to swing and miss. He’s not a complete free swinger — Taylor’s rate of chasing pitches outside the strike zone hovers right around league average — but he comes up empty quite a bit even when swinging at pitches inside the strike zone.

Taylor has posted above-average offensive numbers just once in parts of eight big league seasons. Over 432 plate appearances with the Nats in 2017, he hit .271/.320/.486 and popped 19 homers. That season was propped up by an unsustainably high .363 batting average on balls in play, though, and Taylor hasn’t found that kind of success in the years since. Going back to the start of the 2018 campaign, he owns a .234/.291/.364 line with an alarming 28.9% strikeout rate.

That the Royals are anxious to keep Taylor off the open market in spite of his offensive struggles is a testament to his prowess with the glove. Taylor rated very highly defensively throughout his time in Washington, and he’s continued to excel on that side of the ball with Kansas City.

Aside from a pair of semi-rest days at designated hitter, Taylor has lined up exclusively in center field this season. Over 1,141 innings at the position, he’s rated as a staggering 21 runs above average, by measure of Defensive Runs Saved. That’s six runs clear of second-place finisher Harrison Bader. Statcast’s range-based Outs Above Average metric paints a similar picture. By that measure, Taylor is tied with Bader and Manuel Margot with an outfield-best +14 plays. Those advanced metrics align with Taylor’s general reputation for defensive excellence.

The Royals have long valued defense more than most clubs, partially because of the extreme spaciousness of Kauffman Stadium. Excellent glovework was a backbone of their back-to-back pennant winners (and one-time champions) last decade, and the front office continues to place a real emphasis on turning batted balls into outs. With Taylor among the sport’s best handful of players at tracking down fly balls, they’ve struck early to keep him in the fold for the next couple seasons.

While Kansas City surely values Taylor quite a bit, it’s also worth keeping in mind that there wouldn’t have been too many viable alternatives available even if they wished to turn elsewhere. Starling Marte handily tops the upcoming free agent center field class, but he always seemed likely to land a multi-year deal that would’ve been above the Royals’ typical range of spending. Beyond Marte, the class features a group of players who have almost unanimously scuffled offensively this season — Kevin Pillar, Jake Marisnick and Danny Santana among them. There’d have been a strong case for Taylor as the second-best overall center fielder available in free agency.

It’s similarly unclear which center fielders would be attainable in trade. There’ll surely be plenty of calls on players like Cedric Mullins, Bryan Reynolds and Ketel Marte, but their teams’ willingness to make those respective players available ranges from questionable to highly unlikely.

Rather than test the vagaries of the free agency and trade markets, the Royals will lock Taylor into center field for the next couple seasons. Last winter, Kansas City added veterans Mike Minor and Carlos Santana on multi-year free agent deals in an effort to contend. That didn’t pan out, but president of baseball operations Dayton Moore and his front office will surely make another run at being competitive this winter. Santana will be back at first base, while franchise cornerstone Salvador Pérez returns on the heels of one of the better offensive seasons by a catcher in recent memory. Nicky Lopez has played well enough to earn an everyday job somewhere, even if top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. comes up early in the season and stakes a claim to Lopez’s current shortstop position. And the versatile Whit Merrifield will be back to hold down a role at some spot on the diamond while hitting at the top of the lineup.

Taylor’s deal brings the Royals’ guaranteed commitments just north of $50MM, in the estimation of Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez. That’s before accounting for a fairly modest arbitration class, which will feature raises for players like Brad Keller, Adalberto Mondesi, Scott Barlow and Lopez. Even if that group winds up banking something in the collective $10-15MM range, that still leaves a bit of breathing room for further additions before hitting this season’s $86MM+ mark. It’s certainly possible ownership would be willing to spend beyond this season’s level, since the franchise has run payrolls north of $120MM in the past.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Royals’ agreement with Taylor on a two-year, $9MM deal. Alec Lewis of the Athletic reported the deal contained an additional $500K in available incentives. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported the salaries were to be paid out equally in each season, while Robert Murray of FanSided was first with the specific incentive structure.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Royals Select Dylan Coleman

By Steve Adams | September 20, 2021 at 12:45pm CDT

The Royals have selected the contract of righty Dylan Coleman and reinstated right-hander Brady Singer from the injured list, per a club announcement. Kansas City moved fellow righties Brad Keller and Wade Davis from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL in a pair of corresponding 40-man roster moves. (A 40-man move was necessary for Singer, who’d been on the Covid-related injured list.) The Royals are also calling up outfielder Edward Olivares as the 29th man for today’s doubleheader.

Coleman, 25, joined the Royals alongside Olivares in last summer’s Trevor Rosenthal trade with the Padres. The 2018 fourth-rounder has enjoyed a strong season in the upper minors, splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A while recording a combined 3.28 ERA with a massive 40.4 percent strikeout rate and a 9.6 percent walk rate in 57 2/3 innings of relief.

Coleman ranked 18th among Royals farmhands on the midseason rankings from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and 29th over at MLB.com. Longenhagen notes that while Coleman lost some life on his fastball in 2019, he’s now throwing harder than ever before, sitting upper 90s and occasionally reaching 100 mph. Both FanGraphs and MLB.com note that his slider lacks consistency, however, so he’ll need to refine that offering (or develop a new secondary offering) if he’s to settle in as a high-leverage option in the Kansas City bullpen.

The news on Keller and Davis isn’t especially surprising at this point. The Royals revealed last week that Keller would be shut down for the season, and Davis went on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation five days ago. He’d technically have had time to return, but there’d only have been about a week’s worth of games remaining on the calendar by the earliest date on which he could be activated. Davis is a free agent at season’s end. Keller is arbitration-eligible and under club control through the 2023 season.

Royals Shut Down Brad Keller For Remainder Of Season

By Mark Polishuk | September 18, 2021 at 8:47am CDT

Right-hander Brad Keller has been shut down for the rest of the season, Royals manager Mike Matheny told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters. Keller hasn’t pitched since August 26 due to a Grade 2 strain in his right lat, and there isn’t enough time remaining in the season for Keller to fully rehab and return to the mound.

The news officially ends Keller’s fourth MLB season after 26 starts and 133 2/3 innings, and beyond reliably taking the ball and soaking up some innings in the K.C. rotation, 2021 was certainly Keller’s most difficult year. The righty posted a 5.39 ERA/4.84 SIERA, plus strikeout (19.6%) and walk (10.4%) rates that were well below the league average. The walk rate is the worst of Keller’s brief career while his strikeout rate is actually his best, as Keller has relied on a grounder-heavy arsenal to retire batters. Keller was aided by a .280 BABIP over his first three seasons, though the combination of a .347 BABIP and some of the worst hard-contact numbers in league contributed mightily to his struggles this year.

While the overall numbers are grim, most of Keller’s issues came in the first half of the season. Over his last nine starts and 52 2/3 innings, Keller had a much more respectable 3.42 ERA, though his strikeout and walk rates were only slightly improved. Still, if Keller had somewhat turned the corner on his season, his lat strain cost him the opportunity to make a strong finish and earn a few extra dollars in arbitration this winter. Keller will be arb-eligible for the second time this winter, after agreeing to a $3.35MM salary for 2021.

Though the Royals have several younger pitchers who will be expected to take on bigger roles in the 2022 rotation, Keller’s tough season likely won’t threaten his spot in the starting five. Keller is still only 26 himself, and the former Rule 5 Draft pick has had enough success at the MLB level that the Royals aren’t going to give up on him this quickly. However, Kansas City might still look to add another veteran starter this offseason in order to add some reliability to a rotation mix that struggled as a whole.

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