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Royals Put Joakim Soria On 10-Day DL With Oblique Strain

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The Royals announced Friday that setup man Joakim Soria has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with a strained left oblique. The move is retroactive to Aug. 16, so Soria can be activated on the 26th of this month, but oblique injuries often require upwards of a month to fully heal. Right-hander Kevin McCarthy is up from Omaha to take Soria’s roster spot.

The loss of Soria is a notable one for a Royals club that has slipped to 5.5 games back in the AL Central recently but is still just a half game out of the race for the second American League Wild Card spot. Soria has tossed 50 innings with a 3.96 ERA this season, but that mark is massively skewed by a four-run meltdown in his most recent outing — an appearance that lasted just one-third of an inning and sent his 3.26 ERA skyrocketing.

Soria’s secondary marks are all quite good. In fact, when looking at his K/9 (10.6), BB/9 (2.9), HR/9 (0.18) and ground-ball rate (55.2 percent), there’s a case to be made that Soria is in the midst of one of his most dominant seasons as a Major Leaguer. He’s currently sporting a 2.06 FIP, a 2.91 xFIP and a 2.96 SIERA, all of which suggests that his ERA isn’t exactly representative of the overall quality of his work in 2017.

With Soria on the shelf, trade deadline pickups Brandon Maurer and Ryan Buchter could each see their roles increase for the time being. Neither has fared especially well in his new environs, but both relievers have the ability to miss bats in bunches and could help bridge the gap to closer Kelvin Herrera.

2017 Opt-Out Clause Update

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The last look we took at the handful of players with opt-out clauses following the 2017 season was more than a month ago, and a few of their situations may have changed since that early July check-in. Here’s an update on this group of potential free agents…

[Related: MLBTR Free Agent Power Rankings: August Edition]

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  • Justin Upton, Tigers ($88.5MM from 2018-21): There have been plenty of suggestions that there’s no way Upton will walk away from that contract, but we’re not really sold on that notion. Upton was terrible in his first three months with the Tigers but is hitting .274/.352/.542 (137 wRC+) with 45 homers dating back to July 1, 2016. Over the past calendar year, he’s hitting .281/.366/.571 (148 wRC+) with 40 homers in 631 PAs. He’s been seven to nine runs above average in left field, per UZR and DRS, as well. Upton will play next year at the age of 30 and needs only to feel he can top Hanley Ramirez’s guarantee to opt out. Beyond that, he may simply like the idea of moving to a team that isn’t openly trying to pare back its payroll and retool for the future.
  • Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees ($67MM from 2018-20): Tanaka’s home-run woes are an unequivocally troubling issue, but his numbers since the summer began are encouraging. Since May 26, Tanaka has a 3.99 ERA with 10.7 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 and a 47.6 percent ground-ball rate — good for a 3.12 xFIP and a 3.17 SIERA. The numbers are even better if you look at his past nine starts (3.00 ERA, 65 K, 12 BB, 57 innings). The health concerns are well known. Tanaka had a partial UCL tear in his rookie season but was able to avoid Tommy John, and he’s currently on the DL with what is reportedly some minor shoulder fatigue. The righty has averaged 2.2 HR/9 this year, but he’s also going to be just 29 years old next year. An opt-out looked highly unlikely two months ago but now looks entirely plausible, as long as this latest DL trip proves minor.
  • Welington Castillo, Orioles ($7MM player option): Since last check, Castillo has absolutely raked. He’s batted .308/.345/.500 with four homers and three doubles in his past 84 PAs, and his overall batting line it up to .283/.319/.457 (103 wRC+). Castillo’s framing marks have improved from some of the worst in the league to roughly average (per Baseball Prospectus), and he’s halted an incredible 46 percent of stolen-base attempts against him in 2017. He should be able to top a one-year, $7MM deal with ease this winter.

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  • Greg Holland, Rockies ($15MM player option): Since our last check, Holland has reminded everyone that he is indeed mortal. In his past 11 2/3 frames, he’s coughed up eight runs on a dozen hits and six walks with 14 strikeouts. Six of those runs have come in his past two outings, but as long as that proves to be a blip on the radar, Holland still seems a safe bet to opt out. If he significantly fades in his first year back from Tommy John or lands on the disabled list, though, there’s at least a chance that he takes the option. Assuming he remains healthy, though, Holland will likely look to top Mark Melancon’s four-year, $62MM deal this winter.
  • Johnny Cueto, Giants ($84MM from 2018-21): It’s been almost a month since Cueto last set foot on a Major League mound, as he’s been sidelined with a forearm issue that has significantly clouded his chances of opting out. Reports earlier in the summer suggested that a slow start wasn’t going to deter Cueto from opting out, but a month-long injury scare and an ERA in the upper-4.00s certainly might. Cueto, 32 in February, has a 4.59 ERA with 8.0 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and the second worst ground-ball rate of his career (39.2 percent). FIP, xFIP and SIERA all peg him at 4.41 or worse.

Unchanged Since Last Check

  • Matt Wieters, Nationals ($10.5MM player option): Wieters wasn’t hitting in early July, and he’s hitting even less now. His defensive reputation limited him to a two-year, $21MM deal with a player option after year one on the 2016-17 open market, and that was coming off a much better offensive season. Wieters seems extremely likely to take the $10.5MM in 2018.
  • Ian Kennedy, Royals ($49MM from 2018-20): Kennedy’s results have improved slightly since the last opt-out update, but it’s hardly enough to make it likely that he’ll opt out of that significant guarantee. Through 120 innings in 2017, Kennedy has averaged 1.65 HR/9, tying a career-worst mark, while both his strikeout and walk rates have gone the wrong direction. He’s also missed a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury, and he’ll turn 33 this December.
  • Wei-Yin Chen, Marlins ($52MM from 2018-20): No change here. Chen has scarcely been able to pitch in 2017 due to a reported partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament. He’s reportedly still aiming for a late comeback, but that won’t be enough to give him the earning power to top his remaining guarantee.

Royals Are Baseball's Most Free-Swinging Team

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  • The Royals swing at more of the pitches they see — 50.9% — than any team, and are on pace to swing at more pitches than any team since at least 2002, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes. The approach hasn’t been particularly successful overall — the Royals are currently tied for 12th in the AL in runs scored. Of course, Kansas City’s freest swingers include Salvador Perez (58.5% swing percentage) and Mike Moustakas (56.9%), who are both in the midst of good seasons. “You don’t think we address that all the time?” says Royals manager Ned Yost. “Of course, we do. We talk about being more selective and getting better pitches. But again, these guys are who they are.”

Royals Place Trevor Cahill On DL

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The Royals have placed right-hander Trevor Cahill on the disabled list with an impingement in his throwing shoulder and recalled fellow righty Kevin McCarthy from Triple-A, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com.

[RELATED: Updated Royals Depth Chart]

Cahill’s injury is the latest and most significant setback during what has been a difficult Royals tenure for the 29-year-old. Kansas City made an aggressive move to acquire Cahill, Brandon Maurer and Ryan Buchter in a late-July trade with the Padres, but the success Cahill had in San Diego over the season’s first few months hasn’t transferred to his new setting.

Cahill has made three starts with the Royals and failed to exceed 4 2/3 frames in any of those outings. Overall, he has tossed 11 innings since the trade and yielded 10 earned runs on 18 hits and nine walks, with just six strikeouts, helping to contribute to the Royals’ post-deadline skid. The club has dropped seven of nine this month to fall to 57-56, yet it’s still just one game out of a wild-card spot in a jam-packed American League race.

While it’s unclear exactly how long Cahill will be on the shelf, a shoulder impingement typically requires at least a few weeks to recover, and it comes at an especially inopportune time for the free agent-to-be. All the more troubling is that Cahill missed time earlier this season with shoulder issues.

As they await Cahill’s return, the Royals are likely to turn to righty Jake Junis, who’s currently in Triple-A, to grab the open spot in their rotation, per Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link).

Kelvin Herrera, Gregory Polanco, Alex Colome & Francisco Cervelli Move To Wasserman

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Six players have elected to change their agencies, following agent Rafa Nieves in his recent move from Beverly Hills Sports Council to the Wasserman Media Group, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links).

Among the veterans making the change are a pair of closers — the Royals’ Kelvin Herrera and Alex Colome of the Rays — as well as two Pirates players, outfielder Gregory Polanco and catcher Francisco Cervelli. Two less-experienced players — each of whom has a 40-man spot but is currently at Triple-A — will also move: Athletics righty Frankie Montas and Nationals catcher Pedro Severino.

Of these players, it seems that Herrera’s situation is most interesting. The 27-year-old will be eligible for free agency one final time over the winter. He’s earning $5.325MM currently and will look to build upon that figure before hitting the open market.

Herrera’s case will be an interesting one to track, as he has slipped to a 4.19 ERA this year but has also already posted 43 strikeouts and has served as Kansas City’s full-time closer. With 24 saves in the bank — double last year’s tally — Herrera should be well-positioned to argue for a hefty raise, especially if he can drive down the earned run average before the end of the season.

Also slated for arbitration is Colome, who’ll go through the process for the first time. He, too, hasn’t been quite as dominant this year as he was last. But he’ll bring a loaded resume to the table with 37 saves in the bank from last year and a league-leading 33 added already in 2017. As things stand, Colome has a career 3.16 ERA and has also accumulated more innings than a typical closer (256 2/3) since he also has 19 MLB starts on his ledger.

As for the two Bucs regulars, they’re playing under long-term contracts. Polanco is under team control all the way through 2023, while Cervelli is locked up through 2019 under the extension he signed last year. Both Montas and Severino have seen the majors on multiple occasions, but neither has accumulated significant service time to date. The pair of 24-year-old Dominicans are still a fair ways away from possible arbitration eligibility.

As always, you can find the most up-to-date agency information in MLBTR’s database.

Royals Place Salvador Perez On DL

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The Royals have placed catcher Salvador Perez on the disabled list, retroactive to Saturday, with an intercostal strain, tweets Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. The team has recalled fellow backstop Cam Gallagher from Triple-A to take Perez’s place.

[RELATED: Updated Royals Depth Chart]

After Perez suffered the injury Friday, manager Ned Yost suggested that he could miss up to four weeks in a worst-case scenario, according to Wilson Alexander of MLB.com. That would cost Perez the rest of August and remove a linchpin from a Kansas City club that’s firmly in the American League playoff race. The Royals, trying to take advantage of what could be their championship-winning core’s last ride, own a 56-52 record that’s good enough for a one-game lead on the AL’s second wild-card spot. They also have a shot to claim the AL Central from the Indians, who hold a three-game advantage over the Royals.

The Royals’ success this year has come thanks in no small part to Perez, long one of their heart-and-soul players. Specifically, the 27-year-old’s bat has been a boon to the Royals’ cause in 2017. Perez has belted a career-high-tying 21 home runs and posted a personal-best .232 ISO across 391 plate appearances, contributing to a terrific .278/.308/.510 line. He hasn’t been nearly as excellent defensively, however, having continued a careerlong trend of notching minus pitch-framing marks (per Baseball Prospectus). Additionally, Perez has thrown out would-be base stealers at only a slightly above-average clip (29 percent, compared to a league mean of 27 percent), after nailing runners a league-high 48 percent of the time in 2016.

As they continue vying for  a playoff berth, the Royals will trudge on with Drew Butera and Gallagher as their options behind the plate. No one would confuse the light-hitting Butera for Perez, though, while Gallagher had never cracked the majors until Sunday. A second-round pick in 2011, the 24-year-old Gallagher reached Triple-A for the first time this season and hit .294/.339/.408 in 259 PAs before his promotion.

If the Royals aren’t content with Butera and Gallagher, it’s possible they’ll look to the August waiver market for help behind the plate. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted this week, veteran catchers Kurt Suzuki (Braves), Nick Hundley (Giants) and A.J. Ellis (Marlins) could move before the month’s out.

Royals Outright Andrew Edwards

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  • Royals right-hander Andrew Edwards has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Double-A Northwest Arkansas, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. The Royals designated Edwards for assignment last Sunday when they acquired outfielder Melky Cabrera from the White Sox. The 25-year-old Edwards has spent the majority of the season at Double-A and pitched to an 8.51 ERA, with 9.2 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9, over 24 1/3 innings at that level.

Al Alburquerque Elects Free Agency

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  • Right-hander Al Alburquerque cleared waivers and elected to become a free agent, the Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd tweets.  The Royals designated Alburquerque for assignment last week and requested release waivers on him two days ago; Alburquerque was previously DFA’ed earlier this season, though that time he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A.  The righty signed a minors deal with Kansas City last winter and has a 3.60 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 over 10 innings out of the Royals bullpen.

Royals Discussing J.A. Happ, Marco Estrada With Blue Jays

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The Royals have already made several additions, but they have engaged with the Blue Jays on a pair of starting pitching targets, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). Kansas City is discussing both lefty J.A. Happ and righty Marco Estrada with Toronto, which just agreed to send southpaw Francisco Liriano to the Astros.

Happ, 34, is certainly enjoying more success at the moment among the two pitchers under consideration. He owns a 4.15 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 over his 78 frames on the year. Happ isn’t exactly cheap — he’s owed $13MM this year and next — but has been well worth the salary commitment for his production. That additional year of control, though, has led to prior suggestions that Toronto isn’t all that interested in moving him.

As for Estrada, he has been tied to the Royals for some time. While he’s punching out 9.6 batters per nine on strikes, the veteran has stumbled to a 5.43 ERA — though he has also been healthy, with 114 1/3 innings on his ledger. The pending free agent is playing on a $14.5MM salary this year, and the Jays would surely need to hold onto a decent chunk of what’s left (or add an underperforming contract in return) to make a deal.

Royals Acquire Melky Cabrera

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The Royals have acquired outfielder Melky Cabrera and cash from the White Sox in exchange for minor league righty A.J. Puckett and minor league lefty Andre Davis, the White Sox announced. Kansas City has designated minor league righty Andrew Edwards for assignment in a corresponding roster move, tweets MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan. MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that the White Sox are paying about half of the roughly $5.2MM that Cabrera is still owed on this year’s $15MM salary. Cabrera is a free agent at season’s end.

[Related: Updated Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox depth charts]

Melky Cabrera | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Cabrera, 32, will return for his second stint with the Royals — though things are different in Kansas City this time around. Cabrera had a fine year in Royal Blue back in 2011, hitting .305/.339/.470 with 18 homers and 20 steals as a 26-year-old. However, the Royals finished out that season 20 games below .500 and finished fourth in the American League Central.

Now in his second Royals tenure, Cabrera joins the team not as an up and coming outfielder but as an established veteran that will be inserted into a potential playoff contender’s lineup. The switch-hitter has a strong .295/.336/.436 batting line through 428 plate appearances this season, and he’s been especially effective against left-handed pitching (.296/.327/.500). That was surely an area of focus for GM Dayton Moore with tomorrow’s non-waiver deadline approaching, as the Royals have posted a collective .250/.305/.415 — good for just an 87 wRC+ that ranks 20th in the Majors.

For the White Sox, the 22-year-old Puckett is the more highly regarded pickup in this deal. The Pepperdine product was selected with the 67th overall pick in the 2016 draft and ranks as the Royals’ No. 13 prospect, per Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. In 108 1/3 innings this season, Puckett has worked to a 3.90 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a 48.9 percent ground-ball rate. Callis and Mayo note that Puckett is more about pitchability than power, with a 90-94 mph fastball and a plus changeup. Their report also pegs the 6’4″, 200-pound righty’s control at above-average, despite the 3.8 BB/9 rate that Puckett has turned in this season.

Davis, 23, was the Royals’ eighth-rounder in 2015 and has spent the season pitching against younger competition in Class-A Lexington. In 85 2/3 innings out of the rotation, he’s posted a 4.82 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 43.9 percent grounder rate. He’s been exclusively a starter this season, but if that track doesn’t pan out, Davis’ numbers against lefties in Class-A are solid; he’s held same-handed opponents to a .216/.289/.352 batting line through 97 plate appearances in 2017.

Edwards, 25, has spent the bulk of the 2017 season with Kansas City’s Double-A affiliate in Northwest Arkansas. He’s punched out 34 hitters in 30 2/3 innings but has also struggled to a 7.92 ERA after allowing 45 hits and 14 walks in that same time frame.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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