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Royals Roster Notes: Moylan, Mondesi, Soler, Gore

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A number of Royals moves on Monday moved the team closer to setting their 25-man roster for the start of the season, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star and other reporters have noted. Here’s the breakdown of where the Royals’ roster stands:

  • First, the team optioned lefty Scott Alexander and outfielders Billy Burns and Peter O’Brien to Triple-A Omaha and assigned catcher Zane Evans, infielder Humberto Arteaga and relievers Yender Caramo, Eric Stout, Al Alburquerque and Malcom Culver to minor-league camp. The moves left veteran righty Peter Moylan as the Royals’ clear choice for the last spot in their bullpen. (Another veteran, Seth Maness, remains in camp, but he is recovering from injury and will not be ready for Opening Day.) Moylan’s minor-league deal with the Royals contains an opt-out clause tomorrow, so the team seems likely to place him on their 40-man roster shortly. Moylan allowed just one run in eight Spring Training innings, striking out six and walking one.
  • Royals manager Ned Yost also announced that Raul Mondesi would serve as the team’s starting second baseman, beating Whit Merrifield, Christian Colon and Cheslor Cuthbert. Cuthbert will make the team, while Merrifield and Colon are still competing for a bench job. The 21-year-old Mondesi was the surprise winner of the job after batting just .185/.231/.281 in 149 plate appearances in his rookie season in 2016, but he was previously a top prospect and had a very strong spring, batting .378/.391/.623.
  • Finally, Jorge Soler, who had been projected to start in right field, suffered a strained oblique this weekend and appears likely to begin the season on the disabled list. It’s only a grade I strain, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets, and Soler may be able to begin resuming baseball activities in a week, so perhaps he can avoid a lengthy absence. That means Paulo Orlando will likely begin the season as the team’s right fielder, with Brandon Moss also occasionally helping at the position. Terrance Gore, who the Royals value for his speed and defensive ability, now seems likely to occupy a bench spot with Soler on the shelf.

Cafardo’s Latest: Braves, Quintana, Martes, Hosmer

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Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe shares a few hot stove items in his weekly notes column…

  • The Braves have had some interest in trading for White Sox lefty Jose Quintana, though Atlanta president of baseball operations John Hart says his rebuilding team isn’t quite ready to make that kind of major deal.  “We’re still growing this team.  Our whole mantra has been young players,” Hart said.  “It’s worked.  We like where we’ve gone.  Our farm system has gone from worst to first.  At this point we’re probably likely not going to move these [prospects].”
  • More from Hart, who said that the Braves “haven’t really entertained anything” in regards to trade offers for veterans, including Nick Markakis.  “Nick is a good piece. He’s a super pro player….We’ll look at what happens this year, but he’s an affordable guy,” Hart said.  Markakis is owed $10.5MM in both 2017 and 2018.  The Braves somewhat surprisingly signed Markakis to a four-year, $44MM deal in the 2014-15 offseason just as the team was beginning its rebuild, and the veteran has hit .282/.358/.386 over 1370 PA since coming to Atlanta.
  • Quintana may be the biggest name who could be traded before Opening Day, though the White Sox are steadfast in their demands for a big return and are prepared to keep Quintana until someone finally meets the asking price.  Cafardo sees the Dodgers as a sleeper for Quintana, as Los Angeles has a good farm system and is dealing with some injury questions in the rotation.
  • “The Astros seem to be the team most engaged” on Quintana, though Houston didn’t budge when the White Sox asked for a trade package of Francis Martes, Kyle Tucker and Joe Musgrove earlier this offseason.  Cafardo notes that Martes is the specific stumbling block in talks, as the Astros are naturally unwilling to give up one of the sport’s most highly-touted pitching prospects.
  • The Royals are reportedly preparing to shop their multiple free agent veterans if they fall out of contention this summer, and Cafardo says K.C. is looking at the Red Sox as a possible trade partner for Eric Hosmer.  Boston could pursue Hosmer as a rental if Mitch Moreland isn’t performing, though the Sox also have an intriguing internal first base option in minor leaguer Sam Travis.

Minor MLB Transactions: 3/20/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Royals released lefty Jonathan Sanchez, as MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. Sanchez, 34, struggled badly in camp as he tried once more to make it back to the majors. Once an established starter, Sanchez hasn’t appeared in the bigs since 2013, when he failed to recover from a disastrous 2012 campaign. He also has not played in affiliated ball in either of the past two seasons, though he did go to camp with the Reds last year.
  • The Diamondbacks released former first-round draft pick Stryker Trahan, per Matt Eddy of Baseball America (via Twitter). Taken 26th overall in 2012 as a catcher, he had shifted more recently to the outfield. Though he’s still just 22 years of age, though, the bat never showed much life after promising work at the Rookie ball level. While he hit 19 home runs in 2014, Trahan managed only a .283 OBP and hasn’t turned it around since. Last year, he slashed just .201/.256/.322 combined over 258 plate appearances at the Class A and High-A levels.

Rotation Notes: Royals, Cardinals, Padres

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The Royals have named Nate Karns their fifth starter, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes (Twitter links). That means veterans Travis Wood and Chris Young will pitch out of the bullpen. Karns joins a rotation that also includes Danny Duffy, Ian Kennedy, Jason Hammel and Jason Vargas. Karns, who arrived in a winter trade for Jarrod Dyson, posted a 5.15 ERA and 4.3 BB/9 with the Mariners last year, but with a reasonably promising 9.6 K/9 over 94 1/3 innings. The potential to compete for a rotation spot was a key reason Wood agreed to a two-year, $12MM deal with the Royals over the offseason, but it appears he’ll instead pitch in relief, a role in which he had success as a member of the Cubs in both 2015 and 2016. Here’s more on rotations throughout the game.

  • Manager Mike Matheny confirms that Michael Wacha will serve as the Cardinals’ fifth starter, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Wacha appeared to have the inside track on the job after the team lost top prospect Alex Reyes to an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. Joining Wacha in the rotation will be Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Mike Leake and Lance Lynn. The loss of Reyes and the injury situations of a number of pitchers (including Wacha, Tyler Lyons and Marco Gonzales) leave the Cardinals with somewhat depleted depth. Lynn, who is pitching without restrictions as he returns from his own Tommy John surgery, says he’s aiming to reliably make his starts and accumulate innings. “If you set yourself below that, why take the ball?” he says.
  • The Padres face a different problem as they attempt to assemble their 2017 rotation, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell writes. Veterans Jhoulys Chacin, Jered Weaver and Clayton Richard have nailed down rotation spots, leaving two open. Of the five remaining starters competing, though, three (Jarred Cosart, Christian Friedrich and Paul Clemens) are out of options, limiting the club’s flexibility. One or two of those pitchers could head to the bullpen (although sending two potential starters to the bullpen would create a different set of roster questions), and Friedrich, who’s dealing with arm soreness, could be placed on the DL. Still, it’s possible the Padres could end up with a starting pitcher or two on the waiver wire as the season opens. Luis Perdomo, meanwhile, led the Padres in innings pitched last year, but he’s eligible to be optioned, so he might head to Triple-A El Paso.

Royals Release Brandon League; Trade Brandon Dulin To White Sox

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The Royals have released veteran reliever Brandon League, reports Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. Additionally, they’ve traded first baseman Brandon Dulin to the White Sox for a player to be named or cash, according to Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter links).

The 33-year-old League, who hasn’t taken a major league mound since 2014, joined the Royals on a minor league deal in January. That came after shoulder problems limited the former Mariners and Dodgers closer to 10 2/3 minor league innings in 2015 and helped keep him out of baseball last year. In his comeback attempt with the Royals, the right-hander tossed five spring frames and yielded just two earned runs on three hits, though he did issue four walks while totaling only two strikeouts.

Long a hard thrower, League has registered 532 big league innings with Toronto, Seattle and Los Angeles, and recorded a 3.65 ERA, 6.34 K/9, 3.13 BB/9 and 60.5 percent ground-ball rate. After a strong stretch from 2010-12, the Dodgers signed League to a three-year, $22.5MM. League then delivered mixed results over two years, and the Dodgers released him in 2015 amid his aforementioned shoulder troubles.

Dulin, whom the Royals selected in the 12th round of the 2013 draft, hasn’t gotten past Single-A. The 24-year-old hit .254/.312/.391 in 269 plate appearances at that level last season.

Make Or Break Year: Mike Moustakas

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MLBTR is rebooting its “make or break year” series, in which we analyze players who enter the season with up-and-down track records but also an opportunity to stake a claim to significant future earnings. 

There are several “make or break” candidates on this year’s Royals team, with pending free agents Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, and Alcides Escobar all having much to prove. But there’s as much variance for third baseman Mike Moustakas as there is for any of those other core K.C. players, and he’ll face the added uncertainty of coming back from an ACL tear suffered last May.

Apr 26, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas (8) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the first inning during a MLB game against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Moustakas, who’ll turn 29 in September, was long viewed as a quality prospect who just hadn’t gained traction in the majors. Through the 2014 season, he had accumulated only a .236/.290/.379 batting line in over 500 games of MLB action. But Moustakas showed life in the 2014 postseason, raising hopes yet again that he’d finally come into his own on the playing field.

As it turned out, that’s just what happened. Moustakas blossomed in the Royals’ 2015 World Series campaign, setting personal-best marks in every triple-slash category (.284/.348/.470) while driving a career-high 22 long balls. And he continued to draw solid ratings for his glovework at the hot corner, leading to a 3.6 fWAR / 4.4 rWAR campaign in which he finally rewarded the organization’s commitment.

Things were off to a rather promising start in 2016, with Moustakas carrying a .240/.301/.500 slash when he hit the operating table. That’s all the more impressive given that he was held back by a .214 BABIP in spite of a 37.4% hard-hit percentage that is better than he’s ever managed over a full season. Plus, Moustakas had tamped down his already excellent strikeout ratio to a personal-low 11.5% level while boosting his walk rate to 8.0%, just below league average. Moustakas was also showing further strides in converting flyballs to home runs, with a 19.4% HR/FB ratio.

All said, the arrow has pointed up for Moustakas ever since he turned things on late in 2014. If he can regain that momentum and prove he’s back to full health, perhaps the missed time won’t prove a major hindrance to his earning power. A big season from Moustakas could leave him targeting something approaching the Pablo Sandoval contract (five years, $95MM), though perhaps only a true breakout campaign would make that achievable. But there’s plenty of earning power downside, too; after all, Moustakas has been a below-average hitter for the bulk of his MLB career, and anything short of a productive campaign might put quite a different spin on his overall track record.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

MRIs On Salvador Perez’s Knee Clean

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March 15: Both MRIs conducted on Perez’s knee have come back clean, per MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (Twitter links). Perez will be sidelined for about a week nonetheless, however, due to a hyperextended left elbow that he sustained in the collision. While taking more than a week off of games isn’t ideal, the fact that Perez’s knee is just fine and the minor elbow injury occurred in his non-throwing arm are both positive outcomes from an initially frightening situation.

March 12: In a best-case scenario, Perez will be able to return in a week, general manager Dayton Moore told Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). The Royals will have more information after Perez undergoes a second MRI on Monday, though manager Ned Yost is optimistic.

“He’s going to be OK, we think,” Yost said (via Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star). “He’ll be all right. They checked him out yesterday, Pedro (Grifol, the Royals catching coach) was on the phone most of the night, and so was Nick (Kenney, the Royals’ head trainer), talking to the (Venezuela) GM, talking to the trainers, and talking to Salvy himself.”

Perez “feels much better,” Yost added.

March 11, 10:01pm: The Royals can breathe a sigh of relief: Perez only has inflammation, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag (Twitter link).

7:44pm: Perez has informed the Royals that the injury isn’t severe, per Rivera.

7:28pm: Perez has suffered a left knee injury and will undergo further testing, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB Network.

7:17pm: In what might lead to nightmarish news for the Royals, catcher Salvador Perez departed Saturday’s World Baseball Classic matchup between Venezuela and Italy with a potentially major injury to his left knee. Italy’s catcher, Drew Butera, collided with Perez on a play at the plate, and Perez was then unable to put any weight on his leg. He had to be carried into the clubhouse as a result, reports Marly Rivera of ESPN (Twitter link).

Although Perez and Butera were on opposite sides Saturday, they’re teammates in Kansas City. Butera is the backup to Perez, who has been among the majors’ most durable catchers since 2013, his first full season in the majors. Perez has appeared in between 138 and 150 regular-season games in each of his four full years, and he made the American League All-Star team in all of those campaigns. Along the way, he has helped the Royals to a pair of World Series berths, including a championship in 2015, while slashing a useful .272/.302/.432 with 87 home runs in 2,694 lifetime plate appearances. While Perez is not a well-regarded pitch framer, he has accounted for a catcher-leading 39 Defensive Runs Saved over the past four years. He’s also coming off a year in which he threw out a league-best 48 percent of would-be base-stealers.

Given his track record, it’s likely losing Perez for a significant period of time would cause notable damage to the Royals’ hopes of returning to the playoffs this year after a disappointing 2016. Behind Perez, the club’s top backstop options are three far less accomplished players in Butera, Brayan Pena and Cam Gallagher.

Latest On Eric Hosmer

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We’ve heard ongoing chatter about the possibility of first baseman Eric Hosmer striking a new deal with the Royals. Last we checked in, it seemed that talks weren’t active, though there are also indications the organization could weigh a contract after the season. Then, of course, there’s the matter of potential asking and offering prices, which drew headlines recently when Hosmer himself had to shoot down talk that he’d be seeking a decade-long guarantee.

In the aggregate, there’s little in the way of momentum toward an agreement between the Kansas City organization and their homegrown star. Neither is there much in the way of optimism, it seems, based upon the latest reporting from Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star, who spoke with both Royals owner David Glass and Hosmer’s agent, Scott Boras.

Glass, who’s holding the checkbook in this situation, says that “it will be difficult” to find accord. His reasoning, though, is notable. While crediting Hosmer for his loyalty and saying that he “think[s] Hoz wants to stay here,” Glass suggested that the presence of Boras would complicate matters. While the owner didn’t specifically argue that Boras himself was a particularly problematic agent, he did suggest that Boras is subject to the same incentives as other representatives, and is therefore concerned with how his handling of Hosmer “affects his relationship with his other clients.”

For his part, Boras pushed back at any suggestion that Hosmer would be swayed away from his own self interest. “To suggest Hoz isn’t in total control of his decisions indicates someone has yet to notice that championship ring on his finger,” said the agent. As Mellinger well explains, there certainly seems to be a bit of underlying tension here, though Boras and the Royals have enjoyed a reasonably productive relationship in recent years.

If it’s hard for the Royals and Hosmer to find an agreeable range on a new deal, it’s equally difficult to do so from the outside. He won’t even turn 28 until October and has shown his talent at times at the game’s highest level, with three Gold Glove Awards, a top-25 MVP finish, and an All-Star Game appearance on his record. But Hosmer has also yet to establish himself as a consistently productive major league hitter. Over six full seasons in the big leagues, he owns a .277/.335/.428 slash that’s just about 7% above league average (by measure of both OPS+ and wRC+). As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes explained yesterday, that makes Hosmer arguably “the most polarizing 2017-18 free agent,” and leaves the upcoming season as a critical barometer in determining his earning power.

AL Central Notes: Carrasco, Perez, Anibal, Sano

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Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco underwent an MRI to check out some swelling in his right elbow, but the test revealed no structural damage, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (Twitter links). Nonetheless, manager Terry Francona informed reporters that Carrasco will have at least his next spring start pushed back. Pitching coach Mickey Callaway noted that Carrasco’s fastball was “really flat” in his most recent outing on Monday, Bastian adds, though it doesn’t seem as if there’s any major injury serving as a deterrent to the right-hander. Carrasco missed some time due to injuries last season, though nothing pertaining to his elbow. Rather, the 29-year-old was plagued by a broken hand and a strained hamstring. He hasn’t been on the DL due to an elbow injury since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2011. Last year, Carrasco logged a 3.32 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 48.5 percent ground-ball rate in 146 1/3 innings.

Elsewhere in the American League Central…

  • Salvador Perez underwent a second MRI to confirm that there’s no serious damage to his knee following a home-plate collision with Royals teammate Drew Butera in the World Baseball Classic, tweets MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan, though manager Ned Yost said he won’t have further updates until tomorrow morning. Flanagan notes that Yost didn’t seem especially concerned with his catcher’s health. Perez was diagnosed with inflammation following the initial MRI.
  • Searching for answers to his recent decline, Tigers right-hander Anibal Sanchez tried out some new mechanical tweaks in a bullpen session with manager Brad Ausmus (a former big league catcher), writes Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. Sanchez, Ausmus and pitching coach Rich Dubee were trying out a new arm slot in an effort to bolster the 33-year-old’s velocity after a dip in recent seasons. As Fenech notes, Sanchez’s spring has been nightmarish to date, and he’s done nothing to offer optimism of a turnaround following last year’s disastrous 5.87 ERA in 153 1/3 innings. Fenech writes that if Sanchez’s struggles are significant enough, the team could potentially opt to simply eat the remaining $21MM on his contract ($16MM 2017 salary plus a $5MM buyout on his 2018 option) and release him. Certainly, that’s not a desirable result, though the Tigers have numerous younger options in the rotation, as can be seen on their depth chart at Roster Resource.
  • Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron writes that Twins third baseman Miguel Sano is an interesting case study in the small samples of Statcast defensive data that are being made public this season. Though he’s quick to note that the sample he’s observing is beyond minuscule — three total plays in right field — Cameron writes that Sano made two of the three potential “five star” catches with which he was faced (those deemed by Statcast to have a catch probability under 25 percent based on hang time and distance traveled). In looking at the specific plays in question, Cameron notes that neither required an enormous amount of range, but each required an incredibly quick reaction time and excellent footwork — two traits that also are vital at third base. Statcast data is in its nascent stage, but Cameron wonders if that type of insight could be one of the advantages to Statcast data over other defensive metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating. While there’s no definitive way of knowing just how to interpret this data yet, Cameron’s examination is an interesting look at the potential new applications of Statcast data that will only become increasingly more popular in years to come.

Quick Hits: Royals, Rebuilds, Quentin, Payrolls

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The Royals are pushing to contend in 2017 but if the team is out of the race in July, GM Dayton Moore has told outside executives that impending free agents Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar will all be available, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.  Moore stopped short of completely confirming this report, though he did tell Sherman that “we would have to consider it [a fire sale] if things do not go right.”  2017 has long been seen as the last year of the Royals’ run of contention with this core group, though the team is considering pursuing a reunion with at least one or two of the quartet this winter once they hit free agency.  As the Yankees did with Aroldis Chapman last season, K.C. could deal several of their free agents to reload on prospects or MLB-ready talent and then try to re-sign one or more of the traded players back onto the roster.  Sherman figures the Mets will keep tabs on Cain and/or Moustakas given their uncertainty in center field and third base.

Here’s some more from around baseball…

  • There’s no set timetable for when a rebuilding team should start trying to compete again, as C. Trent Rosencrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer hears from several general managers who have either led their teams through rebuilds or are currently within the process of building for the future.  The Cubs’ blueprint for rebuilding seems to have worked perfectly, though GM Jed Hoyer noted that the team’s decision to spend on veteran talent following an 89-loss season in 2014 was made in part because too much losing would’ve been detrimental.  “We were very concerned about a losing culture and bringing up our young players.  If you bring your players up in a culture that accepts losing, at some point it’s going to have a negative impact on those guys,” Hoyer said.
  • Now that he is finally healthy, Carlos Quentin felt he owed it to himself to give baseball one more shot, the veteran outfielder tells Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald.  “I didn’t want to look back five years from now and say, ’I should have just picked up the phone and made a call and swallowed my ego and pride and done it the right way,’ ” Quentin said.  The Red Sox signed Quentin to a minor league deal this winter, and at age 34 and having not appeared in a big league game since July 26, 2014, Quentin is comfortable with the fact that he faces a long road to crack Boston’s deep roster.
  • The Dodgers have the more “dead money” on their payroll than any other team in baseball, Fangraphs’ Craig Edwards observes.  Los Angeles has $47.4MM committed to players who are not on their 40-man roster (whether they’ve been traded, released or are still in the organization but just not on the 40-man) this season.  The Padres ($35.1MM), Yankees ($26.5MM), Angels ($22.4MM) and Red Sox ($22.3MM) round out the top five, though San Diego is by far the leader in terms of dead money as a percentage of overall payroll.  A whopping 54.8% of the Padres’ 2017 payroll is going towards players who are no longer on the team’s 40-man roster — Melvin Upton Jr., James Shields, Hector Olivera and Jedd Gyorko.
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