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Dick Drago Passes Away

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Former starting pitcher Dick Drago has passed away on Thursday at the age of 78, as noted by Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe. Drago pitched for the Royals, Red Sox, Angels, Orioles, and Mariners throughout his big league career, which spanned 13 seasons from 1969 to 1981. The Royals and Red Sox both mourned the loss on X this morning, extending sympathies to Drago’s friends and family.

Drago’s big league career began as a member of the inaugural Royals team in 1969, a team for which he quickly emerged as one of the better starting options. Drago posted a 3.77 ERA with a 3.67 FIP across 200 2/3 innings of work during his rookie campaign, throwing 10 complete games and appearing in 41 with 26 starts. He largely repeated those results during the 1970 season with even more volume, pitching to a 3.75 ERA and 3.65 FIP across 240 innings of work.

The righty’s star shined brightest during the 1971 campaign, however. Across 35 appearances (34 starts) for Kansas City that year, Drago posted a 2.98 ERA with a nearly matching 2.99 FIP. He did that across 241 1/3 innings of work, recording 15 complete games with four shutouts among them. Drago’s performance led the Royals to the club’s first season above .500 in the young franchise’s history and earned him a fifth-place finish in AL Cy Young award voting that year while the trophy ultimately went to Vida Blue.

Drago ultimately spent two more seasons in Kansas City, pitching to a 3.58 ERA and 3.47 FIP across a combined 452 innings of work those seasons. In 1974, Drago began his first stint in Boston, which would only last two seasons. That included, of course, the club’s 1975 World Series run that saw them lose the World Series in seven games against the Reds. While Drago pitched just 72 2/3 innings of 3.84 ERA baseball with the Red Sox during the regular season that year, his contributions in four appearances out of the Boston bullpen during the playoffs were far more impressive: Drago allowed just one run in 8 2/3 innings of work across four appearances that postseason against the A’s and Reds.

After converting to relief work in the 1975 season Drago spent two seasons pitching out of the bullpen for the Angels (for whom he gave up the final home run of Hank Aaron’s career in 1976) and the Orioles, with a 3.99 ERA and 3.86 FIP in 140 innings of work across those two seasons, before returning to Boston in 1978. His second stint with the club lasted three seasons, and saw him do some of his best work as a reliever: he posted identical 3.03 ERAs in back-to-back campaigns in ’78 and ’79 before reaching 100 innings pitched in a season for the first time since 1974, his first season with the Red Sox, during the 1980 campaign, his final in Boston.

Drago’s career then came to a close in 1981, after 39 appearances with the Mariners. Over his 13-season big league career, Drago posted a 3.62 ERA and 3.58 FIP with an above-average ERA+ of 103 across 1875 innings of work. He appeared in 519 games, struck out 987 batters, and accrued 108 wins throughout his career. We at MLB Trade Rumors extend our condolences to Drago’s family, friends, fans and former teammates.

Ian Kennedy To Retire

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Right-hander Ian Kennedy is retiring, he told Evan Thompson of Sport Relay during last night’s World Series celebration. While Kennedy indicated he had made the decision that this would be his final season going into 2023, he acknowledged “there’s no better way to go out” than as a member of a Rangers team that clinched the franchise’s first title.

The Yankees selected Kennedy in the first round of the 2006 draft. The USC product reached the majors a little more than a year later, debuting as a September call-up in ’07. He saw limited action in the Bronx over the next two-plus seasons. During the 2009-10 offseason, the Yanks dealt Kennedy to the Diamondbacks as part of the three-team blockbuster that moved Max Scherzer to Detroit and Curtis Granderson to New York.

Kennedy spent three and a half seasons as a key piece of the Arizona rotation. He led the National League with 21 wins while pitching to a 2.88 ERA across 222 innings in 2011, securing a fourth-place finish in NL Cy Young balloting. At the 2013 deadline, the Snakes flipped Kennedy to the Padres for Joe Thatcher. He worked out of the San Diego rotation for two and a half seasons, eating around 200 innings annually with a combined 3.97 ERA.

Going into 2016, the Royals signed the hurler to a five-year, $70MM free agent pact. After posting a 3.68 ERA across 33 starts during his first season in K.C., Kennedy struggled in 2017-18. He reinvented himself as a closer in 2019, saving 30 games while posting a 3.41 ERA. He was hit hard in the shortened season and landed with the Rangers on a minor league pact in 2021.

Kennedy had a strong rebound showing in Texas, emerging as one of the better rental relievers on that summer’s trade market. The Rangers dealt him alongside Kyle Gibson to the Phillies. He played out the stretch with Philadelphia, then returned to Arizona on a $4.75MM free agent deal. Kennedy’s return to the desert didn’t go well. He re-signed with the Rangers for 2023, logging 16 1/3 frames over a pair of stints. While he wasn’t on the active roster for Texas’ playoff run, he capped off his playing days with a ring.

It was a storybook punctuation to a 17-year run in the majors. Kennedy logged a little over 1900 innings between six teams, posting a 4.16 ERA. He struck out 1775 hitters, won 104 games and collected 66 saves after his late-career bullpen move. According to Baseball Reference, he banked over $101MM in career earnings. MLBTR congratulates Kennedy on an excellent run and wishes him the best in retirement.

Royals Designate Nate Eaton For Assignment

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The Royals announced that they have designated outfielder Nate Eaton for assignment. The club has been doing some roster maintenance in the past week-plus, putting various players on waivers in order to open space for the eight players they had on the 60-day injured list. Those players have now been reinstated and Eaton’s removal puts the 40-man roster count at exactly 40.

Eaton, 27 next month, was added to the Royals’ roster in August of 2022. Since then, he has served as optionable depth for the club, appearing in 72 big league games over the last two seasons. His defense is generally regarded well and he has stolen 14 bases in that small amount of time, but he hasn’t been able to hold his own at the plate. In 178 appearances, his batting line is .201/.266/.283, striking out at a 28.7% clip. He has had some better offensive seasons in the minors but struggled in Triple-A in 2023. His .252/.312/.441 translates to a wRC+ of 84, indicating he was 16% below league average at that level.

The Royals will now have a week to trade Eaton or pass him through waivers. Despite the tepid offense, his speed and defense give him a solid floor that could perhaps entire other clubs. He’s also still optionable and wouldn’t require an active roster spot once the season begins. He doesn’t have a previous career outright or three years of service time, meaning he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency in the event he were to be passed through waivers unclaimed.

Reds Claim Bubba Thompson From Royals

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The Royals announced that outfielder Bubba Thompson has been claimed off waivers by the Reds and that left-hander Taylor Hearn cleared waivers and elected free agency.

The Royals have been trying to trim down their roster before the offseason. Players on the 60-day injured list don’t take up a spot on the 40-man, but the IL goes away between the World Series and Spring Training, which can lead to a squeeze. Yesterday, they outrighted catcher Tyler Cropley and lost left-hander Tucker Davidson off waivers to the Orioles. Today’s moves clear a couple more spots but they are still slated to be at 41 once the offseason begins.

Thompson, 25, just came over to the Royals via a waiver claim in August, having previously spent his entire career with the Rangers. He’s a speed-and-defense specialist but his work at the plate isn’t quite as strong. He received 241 plate appearances with the Rangers over the past two seasons but hit just .242/.286/.305 in those. Between the Rangers and Royals organizations, he hit .259/.338/.395 in 302 Triple-A plate appearances this year, a line that translates to a wRC+ of 82. He has had some better results in past minor league seasons, but often with high strikeouts and few walks.

His speed does seem to be elite, however. He racks up double-digits steals with ease, including 31 last year between the majors and minors. On Statcast’s Sprint Speed leaderboard, he trailed only Elly De La Cruz and Bobby Witt Jr. in 2023. At worst, it seems like Thompson can serve as a speedy fourth outfielder, while any step forward at the plate would only increase his value. He is still optionable, meaning he can be sent to the minors to get regular reps if the Reds so choose.

Hearn, 29, also spent most of his career with the Rangers prior to 2023. He served as a solid swingman in Texas over 2021 and 2022 as the club wasn’t competitive. He tossed a combined 204 1/3 innings over those two campaigns with a 4.89 earned run average. He struggled in 2023, eventually going to Atlanta in a cash deal, then to Kansas City in exchange for infielder Nicky Lopez. He tossed 15 innings on the year between those three clubs with an ERA of 11.40 in that small sample.

The lefty has more than three years of service time, giving him the right to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment. His rough 2023 results in the majors obviously limit his appeal, but he was much better in Triple-A. Between the Rangers and Royals, he tossed 54 innings at that level in 2023 with a 3.33 ERA and 30.9% strikeout rate, though the 13.4% walk rate is concerning.

Royals Outright Tyler Cropley

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The Royals announced that catcher Tyler Cropley has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Omaha. They also announced that left-hander Tucker Davidson was claimed by the Orioles, something that was reported on earlier. The moves clear a couple of spots on the club’s 40-man roster before the offseason.

Cropley, 28 in December, was twice selected to the Royals’ roster in 2023. The first stint resulted in him getting designated for assignment after just a few days without getting into a game. He passed through waivers and was outrighted, getting selected back to the roster again a couple of weeks later. He was able to make his major league debut as the season was winding down, getting seven plate appearances over two games.

It’s possible that Cropley was mostly viewed as an emergency fill-in, as both Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin were on the injured list at the time. He has never really been a highly-rated prospect and has two games of experience at the Triple-A level. The Royals have now removed him from the roster and he will have the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency, since this is his second career outright. It’s unclear if he plans to do so or not.

Including players on the 60-day injured list, the Royals currently have 46 players on their 40-man roster. Zack Greinke, Matt Duffy are Brad Keller are set to become free agents at season’s end, which will drop the count to 43. The 60-day IL goes away between the World Series and Spring Training, so the Royals will have to clear at least three more spots.

Orioles Claim Tucker Davidson From Royals

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The Orioles announced that they have claimed left-hander Tucker Davidson off waivers from the Royals. The O’s already had an open roster spot and won’t need to make a corresponding move.

Davidson, 28 in March, was once a notable prospect in Atlanta’s system but hasn’t quite delivered on that hype just yet. That has led to a fairly nomadic couple of years, starting with a trade to the Angels as part of the Raisel Iglesias deal in 2022. But he was designated for assignment by that club a year later and was flipped to the Royals for cash. Now it appears the Royals tried to pass him through waivers but the O’s have swooped in and grabbed him.

The lefty was a starter as a prospect but worked primarily in relief in 2023, likely due to the fact that he was out of options and couldn’t be easily sent to the minors. The results in the bullpen were mixed. On the negative side, he finished the year with an ERA of 5.96 between the Angels and Royals, with a subpar 19.5% strikeout rate.

On the positive side, his 8.1% walk rate and 44.2% ground ball rate were both close to league average and he was in the 81st percentile in terms of limiting hard contact. His FIP and SIERA both came in at 4.27, suggesting his .358 batting average on balls in play and 63.1% strand rate both made his ERA look worse than he perhaps deserved.

The Orioles have a few left-handed options for their bullpen already, with Cionel Pérez, DL Hall, Danny Coulombe, Nick Vespi and Keegan Akin on the roster. But some of those guys have options or could perhaps still be considered for starting gigs. Adding Davidson gives them another option to add into the mix, though the O’s have also been known to claim players and then attempt to pass them through waivers later.

Assistant GM Jin Wong Departs Royals

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  • The Royals lost a longtime member of their front office yesterday, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that assistant GM for baseball administration Jin Wong is departing the organization. Wong, who per Rosenthal is leaving Kansas City “of his own accord,” had been in the organization for 24 years. MLB.com’s Anne Rogers relays that Wong played key roles in contract negotiations for key players in the organization’s recent history, including Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain, with much of his role being dealing with Kansas City’s budget and payroll management.

Ryan Goins Announces Retirement

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Eight-year MLB veteran Ryan Goins officially announced his retirement, via his X account.  “I was able to do some special things in my 14 years and developed relationships that will last a lifetime….So this is my official goodbye to playing the game, and my hello to the next chapter of my journey as a coach,” Goins wrote.  The infielder also paid tribute to his family, teammates, and several of his former teams, particularly the Blue Jays “for taking a chance on me and giving me my first shot.”

Goins was a fourth-round pick for Toronto in the 2009 draft, working his way up the minor league ladder and debuting in the Show in 2013.  His first five Major League seasons were spent with the Blue Jays, before then playing with the Royals in 2018 and then with the White Sox in 2019-20.  Goins also spent time in the Phillies, A’s, and Braves organizations without getting any big league calls, and he signed a minors deal with Kansas City last winter but didn’t actually take the field for any game action.

Known more for his glove than his bat, Goins hit .228/.278/.333 over 1690 career plate appearances in the majors, usually working as a utility infielder.  Goins was a very solid defender at both middle infield positions, and also played some third base and a handful of games at first base and the two corner outfield spots.

More than half (887) of Goins’ career PA came during the 2015 and 2017 seasons, as Goins found himself elevated into more or less everyday duty due to injuries to regular Jays starters.  Devon Travis’ recurring shoulder problems meant that Goins got the majority of time at second base for Toronto’s AL East-winning team in 2015, and Goins also found himself logging a lot of work at both second base and shortstop in 2017 when Troy Tulowitzki was on the injured list.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Goins on a fine career, and we wish him all the best in his coaching work.

29 Players Elect Free Agency

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October brings postseason play for a handful of teams and their fanbases. Just over two-thirds of the league is now in offseason mode after being eliminated, however. As the season comes to a close, a number of veterans will hit minor league free agency.

These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. The first group, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Pitchers

Royals To Retain Coaching Staff

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  • The Royals plan to retain their coaching staff for 2024, general manager J.J. Picollo told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters, though a couple of new faces could be added in new roles on an expanded staff.  Though the Royals struggled through a miserable 106-loss season, they already underwent a significant coaching overhaul last winter after new manager Matt Quatraro was hired.  K.C. apparently doesn’t want to make more changes just yet, though there could be some turnover if any coaches are approached for promotions on other teams.
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