AL West Notes: Rangers, Thomas, Pena, Trout, Moncada
The Rangers had some interest in signing Lane Thomas last offseason, the Dallas Morning News’ Evan Grant reports. The outfielder instead joined the Royals on a one-year, $5.25MM free agent deal that was “too rich for the Rangers’ blood,” as Grant puts it, but Thomas could be a possibility for Texas as the trade deadline approaches. Less than half of Thomas’ salary remains on the books, and he could be a fit as a platoon partner for Evan Carter in left field (or as a part-time center fielder since Wyatt Langford is currently on the IL).
Thomas is at least healthier and more productive than he was during his injury-marred 2025 campaign with the Guardians, but the outfielder has only an 86 wRC+ to show for a .214/.319/.338 slash line across 235 plate appearances in Kansas City. A part-time piece like Thomas would likely only do so much to help a Rangers team that could use a bigger offensive boost to stay afloat in the playoff race. Grant floats a few other speculative names that might be on the Rangers’ radar as Texas looks to add a bat and some bullpen help, among other needs.
More from around the AL West…
- A left calf strain sent Jeremy Pena to the 10-day injured list on June 30, but the Astros shortstop has resumed defensive and running drills. Manager Joe Espada told reporters (including the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara) that Pena is on pace to be activated in time for the Astros’ series with the Rangers just prior to the All-Star break, provided that Pena gets through a planned rehab game or two with Triple-A Sugar Land. Getting Pena back in minimal time would be a nice break for an Astros club that already without the shortstop for about a month earlier this season, when Pena was sidelined with a hamstring strain. Pena has been his usual productive self when healthy, hitting .295/.356/.443 over 202 PA this season.
- The Rangers might face another returning star before they face the Astros, as Mike Trout told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other reporters that he is hoping to be activated from the 10-day IL during the Angels‘ upcoming series with Texas that begins on Tuesday. Trout hasn’t played since June 17 due to a hamstring strain, but the three-time MVP said he is back to doing his usual pregame routine. Baserunning was the only thing missing from Trout’s baseball activities, but he said his running drills are up to roughly 85 percent of his usual intensity. Under normal circumstances, the Angels might’ve held Trout out until after the All-Star break as an extra precaution, though Trout has a particular interest in playing in this year’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia near his hometown of Millville, New Jersey.
- In other Angels news, Yoan Moncada‘s recovery timeline was unknown when he underwent knee surgery in early June, but Francys Romero reports that Moncada was expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks. We’ve just entered the earliest part of that timeline now, though Moncada’s placement on the 60-day IL means that he isn’t eligible to return until at least July 20. Between the final stages of the recovery process and a minor league rehab assignment, Moncada projects to return to the Halos by late July or early August.
Kris Bubic Shut Down Due To Shoulder Soreness
Royals left-hander Kris Bubic is still not close to rejoining the team. He has been on a rehab assignment but, per the MLB.com injury tracker, was scratched from his next scheduled game. He received a cortisone shot and will be shut down for another seven to ten days before attempting to ramp up again.
It’s been a frustrating stop-and-start season for Bubic. He made nine starts before landing on the 15-day injured list with elbow soreness. He started a rehab assignment with an appearance on June 9th but only lasted an inning and a third and experienced some shoulder soreness after that. He then restarted his rehab assignment with a single-inning appearance on June 24th. That was followed by a two-inning appearance on Saturday but now he is shut down with a shoulder issue again.
A pitcher’s elbow and shoulder are always notable injuries but there are specific echoes for Bubic. Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2023 season. He returned in 2024 and pitched in relief. He was back in the rotation last year and generally performed well but didn’t pitch after the month of July due to a rotator cuff strain. Now both the elbow and the shoulder have been hampering him this year.
Around the injuries, Bubic has put up good numbers. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has a 3.04 earned run average 25.5% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 48% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, he has logged only 203 innings over those four campaigns due to all the interruptions.
This latest setback is less than ideal for the Royals in multiple ways. Most directly, it hurts their chances in a season that is quickly slipping away from them. The club came into this season hoping to contend but they are now 35-53, tied with the Rockies for the worst record in the majors. Climbing back into the race is going to be extremely difficult with the injuries piling up. In the rotation, Cole Ragans just underwent surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament, so he’s done for the year. That means the starting group will be down two key members for as long as it takes Bubic to get back into the mix.
There have been other notable injuries as well, with Jonathan India, Maikel Garcia, Carlos Estévez, Vinnie Pasquantino and others currently sidelined. With the club’s record and all those absences, it’s highly likely the club will be selling ahead of the August 3rd trade deadline.
Bubic is an impending free agent and would have been the club’s top rental trade chip if he were healthy and throwing the ball well. Perhaps that could still happen but every setback will chip away at the window of remaining time before the deadline and also reduce his trade value.
This shutdown period will go into the middle of July. Even if he’s healthy at that point, he’ll probably need the rest of the month to ramp up towards game readiness. He could still be traded if he is not activated from the IL. Shane Bieber was traded from the Guardians to the Blue Jays last year while on a rehab assignment, for instance, but the numerous setbacks for Bubic will give other teams pause. For now, the Royals will continue with a rotation of Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Noah Cameron, Stephen Kolek and Luinder Avila while they wait for Bubic to get back into the mix.
Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images
Royals Select Luke Maile, Designate Eric Cerantola For Assignment
The Royals announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Luke Maile. Outfielder John Rave has been optioned to Triple-A Omaha as the corresponding active roster move. The Royals opened a 40-man spot by designating right-hander Eric Cerantola for assignment.
Maile, 35, is a journeyman depth catcher. Over the years, he has suited up for the Rays, Blue Jays, Brewers, Guardians, Reds and Royals. He has appeared in 465 games in that time. He has a .209/.277/.320 line in 1,304 trips to the plate. That’s not much offensive production but he has been credited with 17 Defensive Runs Saved in his career. FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus both rank him as an above-average framer. Statcast and BP have him above par in terms of blocking.
The Royals are familiar with Maile, as he got into 25 games for them just last year. They brought him back for 2026 via a minor league deal. His addition to the roster today is related to Salvador Perez. Per Thompson, Perez has a sore elbow. It’s unclear how serious the issue is but teams generally don’t like playing with only one available catcher, as it puts them in a very precarious spot if that catcher gets injured. Adding in Maile and swapping out Rave sacrifices a bit of outfield depth but Maile can back up Carter Jensen while Perez is unavailable.
The cost of adding that extra layer of coverage behind the plate is bumping Cerantola off the roster. The 26-year-old was first added to the 40-man in November of 2024, to keep him out of that year’s Rule 5 draft. He got to make his major league debut in May of this year. Thus far, he has four big league appearances under his belt but has allowed six earned runs in a small sample of 5 1/3 innings.
He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Royals could take as long as five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put him on waivers sooner than that if they so choose.
Though his very small major league track record is not impressive, he could draw interest based on his larger body of work in the minors, where he has generally walked a lot of guys but also racked up lots of strikeouts. He has thrown 93 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level since he was first promoted there in August of 2024. In that time, he has a 3.56 ERA. His 11.7% walk rate is a few ticks higher than average but he has also punched out 30.7% of batters faced.
His four-seamer averages around 95 miles per hour and he also features a low-90s cutter, but most prospect evaluators heap praise on his mid-80s slider. FanGraphs ranked him as the #28 prospect in the system back in April, highlighting that nasty slider. He is still optionable for the rest of this season and one more campaign, so it would be a bit of a surprise if he didn’t land elsewhere via a small trade or waiver claim.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Cole Ragans Undergoes UCL Sugery
Royals left-hander Cole Ragans underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. It was reported last week that Ragans would be undergoing elbow surgery, but the details of the procedure weren’t clear. The Royals now expect Ragans to miss 10 to 12 months, per Jaylon T. Thompson of The Kansas City Star. That suggests Ragans may have undergone the internal brace alternative to full Tommy John surgery, as the latter would require a longer timeline of 14 months or more. Ragans is already on the 60-day injured list and will stay there for the rest of the year.
While it’s not quite a worst-case scenario for Ragans and the Royals, it’s pretty close. The lefty hit the 15-day IL in May due to an elbow impingement. He started a rehab assignment a few weeks later but that was paused due to stiffness in that elbow. Subsequent testing led the Royals to determine last week that surgery would be necessary. Now that the exact details of the procedure are known, the Royals will have to proceed without Ragans for the rest of this year and perhaps a decent chunk of next year as well.
For Ragans, it is going to continue an injury-marred stretch of his career. Not so long ago, he looked to be blossoming into an ace. Acquired from the Rangers in the summer of 2023 for Aroldis Chapman, he posted a 2.64 earned run average down the stretch that year. He mostly kept that going over a full season in 2024, putting up a 3.14 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate over 32 starts. He finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting.
But last year, a left groin strain and a rotator cuff strain limited him to 13 starts with a 4.67 ERA. This year, he put up a 4.84 ERA in eight starts before hitting the IL. Now he’s going to miss the rest of this season and won’t be able to pitch a full season in 2027 either.
Contractually, it won’t impact Ragans in the short term. Going into 2025, when Ragans was coming off his best season, the Royals signed him to a three-year, $13.25MM deal for the 2025 to 2027 seasons. That deal covered one pre-arbitration season and two of Ragans’ three arb years. It gave him a slight bump in pay one year ahead of schedule, while providing the Royals some cost certainty over two of his arb years. He will still be arbitration eligible for the 2028 season. His earning power in that final arb year will depend on when he comes back next year and how effective he is at that time.
For the Royals, it’s the latest bit of bad news in what is turning out to be an awful season. The club is 35-52, the worst record in the American League. The Rockies are the only club in the majors below them. Injuries have played a big role in that. In addition to Ragans, Kris Bubic, Carlos Estévez, Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia, Jonathan India and others are on the injured list at the moment. Depth starters like Ryan Bergert and Ben Kudrna also required season-ending elbow surgeries.
The club is now destined to go into the deadline as sellers. Hopefully, they can at least recoup some young talent to help them in future seasons, though they may not have much to sell. Bubic, Estévez and India are impending free agents and could have been some of the club’s best trade pieces but their injuries have sapped most or all of their value. Other impending free agents have also performed poorly. Trading a controllable pitcher like Seth Lugo or Michael Wacha could provide some value but would hurt the club’s 2027 rotation.
As of now, Wacha, Lugo and Noah Cameron could have three spots in next year’s rotation. With this surgery for Ragans, he could be a midseason addition but won’t be ready by Opening Day. The same is likely true for Bergert and Kudrna. As mentioned, Bubic is bound for free agency. Guys like Stephen Kolek, Luinder Avila, Mitch Spence and others could try to step up and claim jobs in the interim, but the Royals may have to look for more rotation help at this year’s deadline or in the offseason.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Royals Bring Scott Barlow Back On Minor League Deal
The Royals announced Thursday that they’ve signed veteran righty Scott Barlow to a minor league deal. The Warner Sports Management client was released by the A’s earlier in the week. He now returns to the organization with which he made his major league debut in 2018.
Barlow didn’t just debut with the Royals but rather established himself as a quality big league reliever over parts of six seasons. The now-33-year-old righty was briefly one of the game’s top bullpen arms during his Kansas City peak. From 2021-22, Barlow notched 40 saves and 20 holds while posting a 2.30 ERA in 140 2/3 MLB frames. He fanned 28.2% of his opponents against a solid 8.4% walk rate between those two seasons.
Since being traded from Kansas City to San Diego amid a down season in 2023, Barlow has gone on to pitch for the Guardians, Reds and A’s. He signed a one-year, $2MM pact with the latter of that trio this winter in hopes of rebuilding some stock in a wide-open bullpen mix. Instead, like we’ve seen with many other pitchers, he was shelled at the Athletics’ makeshift home park(s).
Barlow now stands as one of the most extreme examples of this phenomenon. In 15 2/3 innings between West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park and Summerlin’s Las Vegas Ballpark — the A’s played briefly at their own Triple-A stadium this summer — Barlow was decimated for a 12.64 ERA. Opponents bashed six home runs in that time (four in West Sacramento, two in Summerlin). On the road, it was another story entirely. Barlow tossed 17 2/3 innings and registered a pristine 1.02 ERA. An eventual return to Kansas City’s pitcher-friendly Kauffman Stadium can only do him some good.
This year’s 12.5% walk rate is a problem, but it wouldn’t be especially surprising if some of that stemmed from trying to nibble to avoid the long ball in the launching pads where he played his home games. Barlow walked 15.1% of his opponents while pitching at home during his A’s tenure. On the road, it was a far more manageable 9.1%.
Beyond the stunning home/road splits, the Royals were likely encouraged by Barlow’s bat-missing ability. His 19.1% strikeout rate is a career-low mark, but Barlow recorded a big 13.8% swinging-strike rate — significantly higher than the league-average 11%. His opponents posted an awful 67.7% contact rate, nowhere close to the league average of 77%. Based on those numbers and Barlow’s career 27% strikeout rate, it seems fair to think that more punchouts could be on the horizon.
There’s no risk for the Royals taking what amounts to a free look at a veteran reliever who once starred as their closer. The A’s are on the hook for the remainder of Barlow’s $2MM base salary. Any remainder of the $1.3MM he had available to him via incentives went out the window when he was released. On this new deal, the Royals would only owe Barlow the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. That sum would be subtracted from what the A’s owe.
Kansas City’s bullpen has been the worst in baseball by measure of ERA. Their 5.40 mark is marginally worse than the division-rival Twins, who rank 29th with a collective 5.37 mark. The Royals have gotten nothing from high-priced closer Carlos Estevez in 2026. He’s pitched only one-third of an inning and has been on the injured list since March. Setup man Lucas Erceg has fumbled in his stead, collecting 12 saves but also blowing six opportunities en route to a 5.23 ERA. Veteran Matt Strahm, acquired from the Phillies in the offseason, hasn’t helped. He’s sporting a 5.53 ERA.
The Royals have gotten good work from Daniel Lynch IV and John Schreiber, but the broader bullpen ineptitude is one of the primary reasons this season has spiraled away from them. At 35-52, they have the American League’s worst record and are only one game ahead of the MLB-worst Rockies in the standings. Perhaps Barlow can help stop the bleeding, but the season appears beyond saving at this point. He could give the Royals a steadying presence in the season’s second half, and if he can get going and show some success in the majors over the next 32 days, he might even be tradeable for a small return.
Royals Select Jose Cuas
The Royals announced a handful of roster moves ahead of their game tonight against the Rays. Right-handers Jose Cuas and Randy Dobnak are joining the team in place of fellow righties Eric Cerantola and Connor Seabold. Cerantola has been optioned to Triple-A Omaha, while Seabold has been placed on the 15-day injured list. Dobnak was already on Kansas City’s 40-man roster, but Cuas was not. To free up a space, the team transferred left-handed Kris Bubic to the 60-day IL.
Cuas, 32, has had quite the career. Drafted by the Blue Jays in 2012, he chose to play college ball instead; three years later, he was drafted by the Brewers. A position player at the time, he played all four infield positions in Milwaukee’s system from 2015-17 but failed to make any sort of impression at the plate. So, he gave pitching a shot in 2018, but the Brewers weren’t any more impressed with his work on the mound than they were with his work at the plate, and they released him midway through the season.
Over the next several years, Cuas pitched in the independent Atlantic League and the Diamondbacks’ minor league system. He also famously delivered packages for FedEx when the minor league season was cancelled in 2020. It wasn’t until 2022 that the former position player and delivery driver finally made his MLB debut for the Royals, who had purchased his contract from the Long Island Ducks a year earlier. From 2022-24, Cuas made 132 appearances for the Royals, Cubs, and Blue Jays, pitching to a 4.37 ERA and 4.43 SIERA. He then spent time in the Phillies and Braves systems before making his way back to the Royals on a minor league deal this past winter. It’s fitting that Kansas City, the team that gave him his first MLB opportunity, is now giving him another chance, nearly two years since he threw his last big league pitch.
In 29 games for Triple-A Omaha this season, Cuas has an impressive 3.31 ERA. He has done a good job of limiting hard contact, but he’s also had trouble throwing strikes. His 29.2% hard-hit rate is promising, but his 13.2% walk rate is concerning. The righty is optionable this year, so now that he’s on the 40-man, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him make the journey back and forth from Kansas City to Omaha a few times.
Dobnak, like Cuas, will be making his 2026 debut if he gets in a game. The Royals acquired him from the Mariners in June after he triggered an upward mobility clause in his contract. The 31-year-old owns a 4.35 ERA and a 4.85 FIP in 80 2/3 innings at Triple-A this year.
Seabold’s injury forced him to exit yesterday’s game in the middle of a plate appearance. He appeared to have tweaked something on an errant pickoff throw to first base. The team initially described the injury as right lat tightness (per Jaylon T. Thompson of the Kansas City Star), and it has now been diagnosed as a lat strain. It’s not yet clear how severe the strain might be.
As for Bubic, a move to the 60-day IL doesn’t necessarily imply any bad news. He could still return to the Royals as early as July 15. However, he was scratched from his scheduled rehab start with the Storm Chasers today, with senior vice president Scott Sharp telling Sports Radio 810 WHB that the lefty is on his way from Omaha back to Kansas City for further evaluation.
Cole Ragans To Undergo Elbow Surgery
JUNE 27: Ragans will undergo surgery on July 1, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports. Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who will perform the procedure, will not determine the extent of the surgery until then.
JUNE 23: Royals manager Matt Quatraro says that left-hander Cole Ragans will likely require some kind of surgery on his elbow. “We anticipate it being a surgical procedure,” Quatraro said, per Jaylon T. Thompson of the Kansas City Star. “We don’t know, as of right now, what it means. He’s got to see another doctor as well, but we anticipate it being surgical.” Ragans is already on the 60-day injured list.
The lack of detail in that update mean a wide variety of possibilities are still on the table. Elbow surgery can, on the low end, mean an absence of just a few weeks. For an extreme example, Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal recently underwent surgery to remove a loose body from his elbow. He was only on the injured list for about six weeks. The other end of the spectrum would be Tommy John surgery, which usually requires 14 months or more of recovery time.
Regardless, it’s an unfortunate update for Ragans. He first landed on the IL a week into May with an elbow impingement. A couple of weeks later, he made one rehab appearance, but that was shut down due to elbow stiffness. Ten days ago, Quatraro said that Ragans woke up not feeling well and would be sent for more testing. Though there still aren’t a lot of details available, it seems the testing is pointing towards surgical intervention.
It’s the latest blow in a Royals season that appears to be going off the rails. They came into the campaign as a potential contender on the strength of their rotation, which included Ragans, Kris Bubic, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Noah Cameron. Injuries have split up that group. In addition to Ragans, Bubic has been out over a month due to elbow soreness. Bubic made a rehab appearance a couple of weeks ago but experienced some shoulder discomfort and hasn’t yet restarted his rehab assignment.
The bullpen has also taken a few hits, with Carlos Estévez, Nick Mears and James McArthur all currently on the IL. On the position player side of things, Maikel Garcia landed on the shelf earlier today, joining Jonathan India, Vinnie Pasquantino and Kyle Isbel. Though he’s not on the IL, Bobby Witt Jr. hasn’t been in the lineup for several days due to a knee sprain.
Thanks to all those issues, the Royals are 33-46 on the year. They are technically only 6.5 games back of a playoff spot in a weak American League field, but it is going to be difficult to make gains with so many key contributors on the injured list.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Royals Release Luke Jackson
The Royals released right-handers Luke Jackson and Aaron Sanchez from minor league contracts this week, according to the MiLB.com transaction tracker. Kansas City also announced Wednesday that they’ve added infielder Andrew Velazquez on a minor league deal.
Jackson is the only of those three players who was in the big leagues as recently as last season. The 34-year-old reliever split the season between the Tigers, Braves and Rangers. Jackson combined for 52 appearances with a 4.06 earned run average. He walked nearly 13% of opponents and had a career-low 17.4% strikeout rate, which limited him to minor league offers last offseason.
After spending the first six weeks in Triple-A with the Mets, Jackson triggered an opt-out. He signed with Kansas City in late May and made 10 appearances for their top affiliate in Omaha. Jackson had a 16:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio but allowed nine runs across 13 2/3 innings. He has an ERA close to 6.00 in the minors this season.
Sanchez signed his non-roster deal in January and was with the big league team in Spring Training. He’d been working out of the Omaha rotation but was tagged for a 9.43 ERA across 13 appearances. Sanchez hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2022 and was out of pro ball entirely last year. He’ll turn 34 next Wednesday.
Velazquez, 32 next month, is three years removed from his most recent MLB appearance. He played in each season from 2018-23, hitting .189/.244/.293 in 275 games between five teams. Velazquez began this season in Triple-A with the Diamondbacks, where he had a .274/.335/.390 showing before being released in mid-June.
Kansas City’s only healthy position player on optional assignment is Matthew Lugo, who was drafted as an infielder but hadn’t played there since 2023. Lugo is mostly playing outfield with Omaha but has gotten a few looks at third base. Brandon Drury, Kevin Newman and Abraham Toro are all in the organization on minor league deals.
Royals Place Maikel Garcia On Injured List
The Royals announced Tuesday that third baseman Maikel Garcia has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a muscle strain in his left hand. Veteran infielder Josh Rojas was recalled from Triple-A in his place.
Garcia has been trying to play through discomfort in his hand for some time now but apparently reached a point where that was no longer tenable. Garcia was lifted from Kansas City’s game on June 16 due to soreness in that same hand. He’s made 11 plate appearances since that point and has just one hit during that time. It’s not clear how long the hand issue had bothered him prior to that exit — if at all — but Garcia was enjoying a strong start to his season through mid-May (.285/.353/.437) before tanking with a .234/.271/.291 batting line over his next 124 turns at the plate.
Perhaps that’s pure happenstance, but Garcia’s 2025 breakout form has been nowhere to be seen for the past six weeks or so. The 26-year-old erupted with a .286/.351/.449 slash, 16 homers, 23 steals and Gold Glove-winning defense at the hot corner last year. That earned him a $57.5MM contract extension from the Royals, who now have Garcia signed through 2030 with a 2031 club option.
The Royals are surely hoping that the ailing hand has been the primary factor behind Garcia’s downturn. Getting him healthy and back on track will be paramount, given the dearth of offensive contributors elsewhere on the roster. Bobby Witt Jr. is having another strong season, and Jac Caglianone has begun to deliver on his prospect hype, but the rest of the roster is lacking in impact bats. Rookie catcher Carter Jensen has produced league-average offense. Infielder Nick Loftin and veteran outfielder Lane Thomas have been slightly better than average but in limited roles.
Lineup cornerstones like Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino are stumbling through career-worst seasons, however, and offseason trade pickup Isaac Collins hasn’t come close to replicating last year’s rookie results with the Brewers. On the whole, the Royals are tied for 17th in the majors with 333 runs scored. They’re tied with the Twins for 13th in teamwide batting average (.246), sit 14th with a .320 on-base percentage and are tied with the Blue Jays for 18th with a .393 slugging percentage.
With Garcia out for at least the next 10 days, the just-recalled Rojas and the aforementioned Loftin should handle the bulk of the playing time at third base. Loftin already played 147 innings there this season and done so with slightly positive grades from Defensive Runs Saved (1) and Outs Above Average (1). Loftin isn’t making much hard contact, but he’s drawing plenty of walks (11.8%) and putting the ball in play a ton (13.9% strikeout rate), leading to a .242/.343/.408 slash that’s about seven percent better than league-average output, by measure of wRC+. Rojas has nearly 2500 major league innings at the hot corner, though he hasn’t been productive at the plate in the majors since 2022.
Royals Sign Matt Moore To Minors Contract
The Royals have signed left-hander Matt Moore to a minor league deal, as per the team’s official player development account on X. The signing marks Moore’s return to pro ball after he didn’t pitch during the 2025 season.
A veteran of 13 Major League seasons, Moore signed a minors contract with the Red Sox in February 2025 but didn’t make the Opening Day roster. Moore could’ve opted out of his deal but chose to remain in the organization at Triple-A Worcester, yet some arm soreness prevented Moore from ever taking the mound for the WooSox. The Sox then released Moore in early April, and it may be that the southpaw’s long absence was related to his arm issues.
The contract is a nice late birthday present for Moore, who turned 37 two days ago. Should he reach the majors, the Royals would be the ninth different club Moore has pitched with at the MLB level, and he also pitched in Japan for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks during the 2020 season.
Viewed as baseball’s best pitching prospect during his time in the Rays’ farm system, Moore looked to be living up to that potential with an All-Star nod in 2013, but his career was set back by a Tommy John surgery in 2014. His numbers went south in the aftermath of that procedure, and Moore didn’t really get back on track until 2022, when he made a full-time shift to relief pitching and emerged as a weapon in the Rangers’ bullpen.
Moore posted a 2.20 ERA over 126 2/3 relief innings for four different teams during the 2022-23 seasons, but then struggled to a 5.03 ERA in 48 1/3 innings with the Angels in 2024. That rough year was prematurely ended by a forearm injury, and Moore hasn’t shown a pitch in a pro game since August 25, 2024.
If Moore can regain any of his old form, he could be an interesting addition to the struggling Kansas City bullpen, though the 32-45 Royals are running out of time to get into contention. Depending on how Moore looks in the minors and how long it may take him to ramp up to readiness at the big league level, he could be an interesting trade candidate beyond the deadline, as players can still be traded after August 3 if they haven’t been on a 40-man roster or on a Major League injured list at any point in the season.