Headlines

  • Zack Wheeler Recommended For Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Surgery
  • Frankie Montas Done For 2025 Due To “Pretty Significant” UCL Injury
  • Orioles Extend Samuel Basallo
  • Astros Sign Craig Kimbrel
  • Pirates Promote Bubba Chandler
  • Evan Carter Diagnosed With Fractured Wrist
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Royals Rumors

A’s Claim Domingo Tapia From Royals, Designate Mickey McDonald For Assignment

By TC Zencka | April 30, 2022 at 1:04pm CDT

The A’s have claimed right-hander Domingo Tapia off of waivers from the Royals and optioned him to Triple-A Las Vegas, the team announced. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Athletics designated Mickey McDonald for assignment.

Tapia, 30, has not appeared with the Royals this season. He appeared with the Royals, Mariners, and Red Sox over the past two seasons, however. Tapia owns a career 2.61 ERA over 38 innings between the three teams, notching most of that experience with the Royals last season.

McDonald, 27, has walked twice but failed to notch a base hit in his first six plate appearances. The switch-hitter doesn’t hit for power, but he did put together a .305/.402/.390 line in 430 plate appearances with Double-A and Triple-A last season. He’s likely to pass through waivers and return to the A’s Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas.

Share 0 Retweet 6 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Oakland Athletics Transactions Domingo Tapia Mickey McDonald

13 comments

Adalberto Mondesi Diagnosed With Torn ACL; Brady Singer Optioned To Triple-A

By Steve Adams | April 28, 2022 at 11:19am CDT

11:19am: Royals general manager Dayton Moore announced that Mondesi has been diagnosed with a torn ACL (Twitter link via Lewis). That’ll quite likely end his season and, depending on his recovery, perhaps even his tenure with the team. Mondesi will be arbitration-eligible for the final time this winter. He’d likely command a salary similar to this year’s affordable $3MM rate, but coming off a major knee injury, it’s not a lock that he’ll be tendered a contract. The Royals will have the entire season to evaluate him and monitor his recovery before making that call. If he’s progressing well, it’s an eminently reasonable price, but only time will tell how the rehab process goes.

As for Singer, he will indeed be built back up as a starting pitcher in Omaha, Moore added. That could point to a quick turnaround and return to the Majors, assuming all goes well. Singer last pitched on April 26 and threw two innings. It’s feasible that he could make a start in the next few days.

11:15am: The Royals announced a series of roster moves Thursday, most notably optioning right-hander Brady Singer to Triple-A Omaha and placing shortstop Adalberto Mondesi on the 10-day injured list. Outfielder Kyle Isbel and infielder Emmanuel Rivera are up from Omaha in  pair of corresponding moves. Mondesi is dealing with a knee injury, and tests last night revealed some structural damage, per Alec Lewis of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Outside of a brief rehab assignment in 2021, it’ll be the first minor league stint for Singer since 2019, when he was only a year removed from being the No. 18 overall selection in the 2018 draft. Singer made the Royals’ Opening Day roster in 2020 and has been on the big league roster (or injured list) since that time. He looked like a potential fixture in the rotation after a solid rookie showing in 2020, when he pitched to a 4.06 ERA with league-average strikeout and walk rates plus an excellent 53.1% grounder rate in 64 1/3 innings.

The 2021 season didn’t go as smoothly, however. Singer had an up-and-down first half but was generally serviceable prior to the All-Star break, logging a 4.52 ERA in 85 2/3 innings. He was averaging under five innings per appearance, however, and by mid-July his velocity had dipped a bit from its early-season average. Singer was clobbered by the Orioles for seven runs in just two innings on July 17, and the Royals put him on the injured list with shoulder fatigue a couple days later. Singer returned in just under a month, but he didn’t make it through the remainder of the season, as he went back on the injured list in late September with a biceps strain.

Kansas City somewhat surprisingly moved Singer from the rotation to the bullpen this year — a new role for a pitcher who’d started all 39 of his prior big league appearances. The results so far haven’t been great; Singer yielded four runs on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Manager Mike Matheny said at the time the Royals set their Opening Day rotation that the organization still viewed Singer as a starting pitcher in the long term. It’s possible, then, that Singer will get the opportunity to stretch back out and return to the Majors as a starting pitcher. Kansas City has gotten poor results from both Kris Bubic and Carlos Hernandez, which could open the door for Singer or some of the organization’s other young arms to seize a starting job.

Optioning Singer carries implications beyond the right-hander’s immediate role or even beyond the team’s current rotation mix, however. Because Singer broke camp with the Royals in 2020 and was on the roster all last season, he entered the year with exactly two years of MLB service time. He’d need to spend 172 days on the roster in 2022 to reach three years of service and remain on track for free agency following the 2025 season. If Singer spends more than two weeks in the minors, it’ll push that free-agent eligibility back to the 2026-27 offseason. He’d likely still qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player — barring a particularly lengthy stint in Omaha — but the amount of time he spends in the minors will nonetheless be worth monitoring closely.

As for Mondesi, the knee injury is the latest in a long line of ailments that have kept the talented but increasingly fragile infielder out of the lineup. Mondesi has missed time over the past few seasons with oblique, hamstring, groin and, most notably, shoulder injuries. The shoulder issue proved to be particularly costly, as Mondesi twice suffered a subluxation before undergoing surgery that came with a six-month recovery timeline.

Mondesi played in 59 of the Royals’ 60 games in 2020, but overall from 2019-21, he appeared in just 196 of 384 possible games (51%). There’s no clear timetable for just when Mondesi might rejoin the Royals, but the very mention of structural damage portends a potentially significant time away from the lineup.

In the interim, the Royals are deep in middle-infield options. Bobby Witt Jr. has been playing third base with Nicky Lopez at second base, but both are experienced and more than capable shortstops. Whit Merrifield has been lining up in the outfield more often than not this season but could certainly shift back to second base, with Lopez sliding over to shortstop. That setup could open the door for Isbel — an accomplished minor league hitter who’s yet to solidify himself in the big leagues — to get a larger look in the outfield.

Share 0 Retweet 7 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Newsstand Adalberto Mondesi Brady Singer Emmanuel Rivera Kyle Isbel

37 comments

Jon Jay Announces Retirement

By Darragh McDonald | April 27, 2022 at 10:32pm CDT

Veteran outfielder Jon Jay took to Twitter earlier today to announce his retirement after over a decade in the big leagues.

“As a kid I remember watching SportsCenter highlights and imitating my favorite MLB players,” Jay wrote. “It is still surreal to me that I played Major League Baseball. As I officially retire from the game that changed my life, I want to thank everyone who has played a role in getting me here.”

Jon JayJay, 37, was a second round pick of the Cardinals in 2006 and then made his MLB debut in 2010. He immediately hit the ground running with the contact-oriented approach that would be a trademark of his career. He hit .300/.359/.422, walking in 7.4% of his plate appearances and striking out just 15.5% of the time. That production amounted to a 116 wRC+, or 16% above league average. The next year, he put up a similar line of .297/.344/.424, 115 wRC+, helping the Cardinals qualify for the postseason and eventually win the 2011 World Series.

Jay stuck with the Cardinals for the next four seasons, with the team making the postseason in each of them. His production stayed largely consistent until wrist issues started hampering him in 2015. He underwent surgery prior to that season and then struggled at the plate, hitting .210/.306/.257. After that campaign, he was traded to the Padres for Jedd Gyorko.

He was able to bounce back somewhat in 2016, hitting .291/.339/.389 as a Padre, good enough for a wRC+ of 99. He signed with the Cubs for the 2017 season and had another solid season, hitting .296/.374/.375, 101 wRC+. He went into journeyman mode for the next few years, spending time with the Royals, Diamondbacks, White Sox, D-Backs again, and then the Angels last year, with none of those stints lasting more than 84 games.

In all, Jay played in 1201 games in 12 MLB seasons from 2010 to 2021. He will head into retirement with a lifetime .283/.348/.373 batting line, 37 home runs, 185 doubles, 25 triples, 1,087 total hits, 532 runs scored, 341 runs batted in and 55 stolen bases. He was a solid contributor to an excellent run of Cardinals baseball, earning a World Series ring in the process. MLBTR congratulates him on a fine career and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

Share 0 Retweet 12 Send via email0

Arizona Diamondbacks Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox Kansas City Royals Los Angeles Angels San Diego Padres St. Louis Cardinals Jon Jay Retirement

64 comments

Royals Acquire Matt Peacock, Designate Domingo Tapia

By Mark Polishuk | April 24, 2022 at 8:49pm CDT

The Royals announced that right-hander Matt Peacock has been acquired from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations.  To make roster space for Peacock, Kansas City has designated righty Domingo Tapia for assignment.

Arizona designated Peacock for assignment earlier this week, and he’ll now head to the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate after spending his entire pro career in the Diamondbacks organization.  A 23rd-round pick in the 2017 draft, Peacock made his Major League debut last season and posted a 4.90 ERA over 86 1/3 innings, starting eight of his 35 appearances.  In 2022, Peacock made two appearances out of Arizona’s bullpen before getting DFA’ed.

Peacock is a grounder specialist who regularly topped the 60% groundball-rate threshold during his time in the minors, and he also has respectable walk totals, though he doesn’t record many strikeouts.  The D’Backs regularly used Peacock as a starter prior to the canceled 2020 minor league season, and he hasn’t recorded a minor league start since (albeit in limited action at Triple-A), so it will be interesting to see how the Royals will opt to deploy the righty.  Conceivably, the Royals might use Peacock in a flexible swingman role depending on their needs, and his grounder-heavy arsenal could be particularly effective on a solid defensive team like K.C.

Tapia’s resume is pretty similar to Peacock, as both are right-handed groundball specialists who pitched in their first big league game in 2020.  Tapia took a longer path than Peacock, as Tapia was an international signing for the Mets back in December 2009.  After long stints in the New York and Cincinnati farm systems, Tapia finally broke into the Show with the Red Sox in 2020, then posted a 2.67 ERA over 33 2/3 combined innings with the Mariners and Royals in 2021.

Over 718 1/3 career innings in the minors, Tapia has a 4.12 ERA and 17.68% strikeout rate.  Tapia has been more or less a full-time reliever since 2018, and his efforts to win a job in the K.C. bullpen this spring were hampered by a lack of control (six walks in 5 1/3 Cactus League innings).

Share 0 Retweet 13 Send via email0

Arizona Diamondbacks Kansas City Royals Transactions Domingo Tapia Matt Peacock

23 comments

Offseason In Review: Kansas City Royals

By Steve Adams | April 14, 2022 at 4:21pm CDT

The Royals reunited with one of the best homegrown pitchers in franchise history on the tail end of his Hall of Fame career but were otherwise quiet, as they’re banking on an increasingly MLB-ready set of prospects to drive a return to contention in the AL Central.

Major League Signings

  • Zack Greinke, RHP: One year, $13MM
  • Taylor Clarke, RHP: One year, $975K

Trades and Claims

  • Acquired LHP Amir Garrett from the Reds in exchange for LHP Mike Minor and cash
  • Acquired minor league RHP Zach Willeman from the Dodgers as the PTBNL from July’s Danny Duffy trade

Extensions

  • Signed CF Michael A. Taylor to a two-year, $9MM extension (technically just before the end of the regular season; Taylor would have been a free agent)

Notable Minor League Signings

  • Brad Peacock, Daniel Mengden, Arodys Vizcaino, Sam Freeman, JaCoby Jones, Colten Brewer, Ivan Castillo, Richard Lovelady

Notable Losses

  • Mike Minor, Hanser Alberto, Greg Holland, Kyle Zimmer, Scott Blewett, Ervin Santana, Jakob Junis, Wade Davis (retired), Jesse Hahn, Ryan McBroom

The Royals got their first couple orders of offseason business done before the regular season had even ended. Longtime general manager Dayton Moore was promoted to president of baseball operations, while longtime assistant GM J.J. Picollo was elevated to the title of general manager. It’s still Moore atop the baseball ops hierarchy, but the pair of promotions made it all the more difficult for other teams to lure the Royals’ top executives away. Kansas City also signed all-world defensive center fielder Michael A. Taylor to an affordable two-year, $9MM extension on Sept. 29 — keeping him from the market and ensuring a continuance of the excellent defense that has been a hallmark of Moore’s best Royals teams.

Though the Royals finished the 2021 season with a 74-88 record, they’d made it clear even dating back to the 2020-21 offseason that the team was intent on moving out of a brief rebuilding phase and shifting to a win-now mindset. Moore had plainly stated as much, and the 2020-21 offseason signings of Mike Minor and Carlos Santana were clear bets on formerly productive veterans that they could return to form and help to mentor an otherwise extremely young Royals roster.

Unfortunately, neither deal paid dividends. Minor posted a second straight ERA north of 5.00, while Santana hit just .214/.319/.342 through 659 plate appearances. Both former All-Stars may have had some sage advice for the Royals’ up-and-coming prospects, but they each quickly went from rebound candidates to struggling veterans now multiple years removed from productivity.

For a Royals club with a deep collection of young starting pitchers and several MLB-ready top prospects on the position-player side of the depth chart, the presence of Minor and Santana quickly became a roadblock. That’s not to say there wasn’t room for a veteran anchor to the rotation, but the Royals clearly felt Minor wasn’t up to the task of shepherding the group in 2022, as they traded him to the Reds in a straight-up swap that brought hard-throwing lefty reliever Amir Garrett to Kansas City.

The trade gave the Royals two years of control over Garrett, a clearly talented but highly inconsistent lefty who, if he can right the ship at Kauffman Stadium, will give manager Mike Matheny a viable high-leverage arm. Command issues have plagued Garrett in the past, but from 2019-20 he pitched to a combined 3.03 ERA while striking out one of every three batters he faced. Home runs were an issue in 2021, but the move from Great American Ball Park to Kauffman ought to help him in that regard.

As importantly — if not more importantly — the Minor/Garrett swap trimmed more than $7MM from the Royals’ payroll. Kansas City agreed to pay the $1MM buyout on Minor’s 2023 option and also chipped in $500K to help cover salary. The Reds otherwise surprisingly took on $7.3MM in additional salary for a 34-year-old lefty with a 5.18 ERA over the past two seasons and a shoulder issue that Cincinnati knew would have him behind schedule in camp. (Minor opened the season on the injured list but was sent on a rehab assignment yesterday.)

That bit of extra payroll space proved vital. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported not long before the trade that the Royals had been hoping to shed payroll in order to bring in some rotation help. They both saved money and created a rotation vacancy in one swoop, setting the stage for a reunion with Zack Greinke, who won a Cy Young Award with the Royals back in 2009. Greinke, the No. 6 overall pick in 2002, returned to Kansas City, spurning similar offers from the Twins, Tigers and others in deference to a full-circle homecoming.

Swapping out Greinke for Minor should be an upgrade but it wasn’t the only starting pitching avenue the team explored. Even after signing Greinke, the Royals continued to pursue Oakland’s Frankie Montas, but the reportedly exorbitant asking price on the 29-year-old righty was too much for Kansas City — or any club, for that matter — to meet. Montas remains in Oakland, and Greinke is now charged with serving as the veteran leader of a rotation that enters 2022 with the same questions it did in 2021.

Kansas City has an impressive collection of young arms, including Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic, Jackson Kowar, Jonathan Heasley and Carlos Hernandez, but to this point that sextet has only had scattershot success. Every member of the group has shown flashes of mid-rotation potential (if not more), but consistency hasn’t been there. That makes a rebound from 26-year-old Brad Keller, who pitched to a career-worst 5.39 ERA in 133 2/3 frames last year, all the more important. Greinke is no longer an ace, but if he and Keller can provide serviceable bulk innings and even one or two of the organization’s touted young arms can take the next step, it’s easy enough to see a quality starting staff coming together.

It’s also possible that any of those six young hurlers could eventually wind up in the bullpen on a full-time basis. Singer is there right now in a long relief capacity, though he has the most big league experience of Kansas City’s young arms and could get a look back in the rotation sooner than later. There’s a fair bit of uncertainty beyond Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont and the previously mentioned Garrett, however. Lefty Jake Brentz had a nice year in 2021 but needs to improve his command, and righty Dylan Coleman has impressed thus far but in a very limited set of innings.

It’s surprising, then, that Kansas City’s only bullpen addition was righty Taylor Clarke, whom the D-backs non-tendered on the heels of a generally nondescript run in 2020-21 (86 2/3 innings, 4.67 ERA, 21% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate). Perhaps owner John Sherman simply wasn’t comfortable pushing payroll past the current $97MM Opening Day mark, but if that’s the case, the decision to restructure Whit Merrifield’s contract to pay him more in 2022 is unusual. Some teams are hesitant to add players late in the offseason when their 40-man roster is full and they fear losing a decent player, but it’s hard to argue that the Royals’ 40-man roster doesn’t have a player or two who could justifiably be jettisoned for some proven bullpen innings.

Nearly 20 relievers signed one-year deals worth under $4MM, and there are even still a few unsigned names who’d have seemingly made some sense for Kansas City (e.g. Yusmeiro Petit, Tony Watson). As with the rotation, though, it seems the Royals will hope in-house options like Coleman, Collin Snider, Gabe Speier and others can step up and fill in the gaps. To their credit, Barlow and Staumont are a pair of developmental success stories.

Turning the focus to the lineup, the Royals are running out the same group of hitters they did late in the 2021 season — with one notable exception. Top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. obliterated Cactus League pitching, just as he did Double-A and Triple-A arms in 2021, and forced his way onto the Opening Day roster. The 21-year-old, second-generation talent was the No. 2 overall pick in 2019 and is viewed as a star in the making. He’s slotting in at third base early in the season, though he’s played primarily shortstop in the minors. The Royals plugged Adalberto Mondesi back in at short, however, and moved Nicky Lopez from shortstop to second base. As was the case in 2021, the Royals should be a tremendous defensive club.

Still, it’s fairly surprising the Royals didn’t find a means to move on from Santana on the heels of such a poor showing. If the first-base cupboard beyond Santana were bare, it’d be more understandable, but that’s not the case at all. Rather, Kansas City has a pair of top-50 prospects who burst onto the scene with mammoth 2021 seasons between Double-A and Triple-A. First baseman Nick Pratto slashed .265/.385/.602 with 38 home runs between those two levels, while catcher MJ Melendez led the minors with 41 homers and posted an even better .288/.386/.625 line. Pratto is the heir-apparent at first base, and it’s a bit puzzling to see Santana getting playing time over him. Melendez isn’t going to unseat Salvador Perez behind the plate anytime soon, but he could mix in at designated hitter and the infield corners — the Royals tried him at third base a bit last year — were more at-bats available.

Santana, fellow first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and utilityman Hunter Dozier combined for a .217/.297/.368 batting line in 1456 plate appearances last year. All three are on the Major League roster right now, while Pratto and Melendez are in the minors. Dozier is signed through 2024 with a 2025 option, so it’s understandable if the Royals are committed to getting him right at the plate. But he’s also played all four corner positions and could be dropped to a utility role because of that versatility. O’Hearn and Santana, meanwhile, seem more like pure roadblocks to the Royals’ more promising prospects. Perhaps they’re both on short leashes, but it’s a bit odd that Witt’s huge Spring Training landed him an Opening Day roster spot while Pratto and Melendez were optioned relatively early despite outstanding performances themselves.

If that seems like a lot of focus on the Royals’ incumbent options rather than their new additions, that’s because there simply weren’t any new additions on the position-player side of things, aside from the promotion of Witt. The Royals firmly believe the core of their next contending club is already in the organization, but that only makes it more curious that two of their three best prospects were sent out after huge spring showings. Again, in Kansas City’s defense, both Melendez and Pratto have struggled through a handful of Triple-A games so far, so perhaps this is the right tactic for their development. If Santana continues struggling as he has early in 2022, however, it’ll be increasingly difficult not to dip into the farm.

Ultimately, it was a quiet offseason for the Royals, setting them up to live or die by the developmental strides of young players like Lynch, Singer, Bubic, Kowar, Hernandez, Heasley, Pratto, Melendez and, of course, Witt. That group should get as many reps as possible this year once the organization deems them ready, and while they won’t all pan out, a full year of evaluation should give Moore and his staff the chance to determine where they need to supplement next winter. The Royals are a long shot to contend, but if enough of the kids step up, there’s at least some Wild Card potential with this group.

Share 0 Retweet 4 Send via email0

2021-22 Offseason In Review Kansas City Royals MLBTR Originals

7 comments

Royals Release Daniel Tillo

By Anthony Franco | April 14, 2022 at 1:34pm CDT

TODAY: Tillo is now officially a free agent after clearing waivers, the Royals announced.

APRIL 13: The Royals announced this morning they’ve requested unconditional release waivers on left-hander Daniel Tillo. Kansas City had designated the 6’5″ southpaw for assignment last week when setting the Opening Day roster.

Tillo has never appeared in a major league game, although he did accrue 99 days of MLB service last season while on the injured list. Kansas City selected the Iowa native onto the 40-man roster over the 2020-21 offseason. He was still rehabbing from a Tommy John surgery he’d undergone the prior season, and he spent much of last year recovering.

Upon being reinstated from the IL in August, Tillo was optioned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He pitched 23 1/3 innings there, working to a 4.63 ERA with a 21.6% strikeout percentage and an elevated 14.7% walk rate. Assuming he clears release waivers, Tillo will be a free agent and could look for a minor league deal with any of the league’s 30 teams.

Share 0 Retweet 5 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Transactions Daniel Tillo

11 comments

AL Central Notes: Royals, Singer, Lynch, Tigers, Peralta, Pineda, Twins

By Anthony Franco | April 8, 2022 at 6:42pm CDT

The Royals finalized their season-opening rotation yesterday, with manager Mike Matheny telling reporters (including Alec Lewis of the Athletic) that southpaw Daniel Lynch will claim the final spot behind Zack Greinke, Brad Keller, Kris Bubic and Carlos Hernández. Notably, that means right-hander Brady Singer — who has started all 39 of his MLB appearances — is set to work out of the bullpen initially. Matheny indicated the Royals still view Singer and righty Jackson Kowar as starting pitchers long-term, but it’ll be Lynch who gets the nod for now.

It’s a bit of a surprising move, as Singer is coming off the better season. Neither hurler had a good ERA in 2021, but Singer had a better strikeout and ground-ball rate than Lynch while issuing slightly fewer walks. Lynch generated a slightly higher whiff rate, but Singer was among the league’s best pitchers at picking up called strikes. Some evaluators raised concerns during Singer’s prospect days about whether his below-average changeup and lower arm slot could diminish his ability to turn a lineup over multiple times, but he’s not shown marked second or third times through the order splits in his career thus far. Injuries and/or underperformance to the front five figure to give Singer another rotation look in the near future.

More pitching updates from around the division:

  • The Tigers are planning to use Wily Peralta in relief this season, writes Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. The righty started 18 of 19 appearances with Detroit last year, posting a solid 3.07 ERA but an underwhelming 14.4% strikeout rate. The Tigers brought Peralta back on a minor league contract this spring. He seems likely to get another big league call fairly soon, but he was delayed in reporting to Spring Training because of visa issues and is set for further ramp-up work in the minors. The Tigers added Michael Pineda on a one-year big league deal to assume the final rotation spot behind Eduardo Rodríguez, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning. Pineda — held up by visa concerns of his own — consented to be optioned to Triple-A Toledo to open the year for more build-up time, giving Tyler Alexander the #5 spot for the season’s first couple weeks. Pineda tossed three innings for the Mud Hens yesterday, and Petzold notes he’s likely to make two more appearances there before being recalled to the majors.
  • The Twins made a last-minute addition to their rotation before Opening Day, acquiring Chris Paddack from the Padres in a deal that involved four MLB players changing hands. Minnesota already had a starting five of Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Dylan Bundy, Bailey Ober and Chris Archer lined up, and manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) the Twins will roll with a six-man starting staff to open the season. Active rosters are expanded from 26 to 28 through April, giving teams flexibility to carry plenty of arms. Minnesota is also carrying top prospects Josh Winder and Jhoan Duran on the Opening Day roster, with both working in relief. Duran is expected to remain in that role (where he shined in two innings during his MLB debut this afternoon); Winder could be a rotation option down the line, and Baldelli said Winder could shoulder as much as five innings during an appearance out of the ’pen in the early going (Park link).
Share 0 Retweet 8 Send via email0

Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins Notes Brady Singer Chris Archer Chris Paddack Daniel Lynch Jackson Kowar Josh Winder Michael Pineda Wily Peralta

19 comments

Royals Select Bobby Witt Jr., Designate Daniel Tillo For Assignment

By Steve Adams | April 7, 2022 at 10:54am CDT

The Royals have made it official. Top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. has been selected to the 40-man roster, while lefty Daniel Tillo has been designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move. Kansas City also placed righty Joel Payamps on the family medical emergency list.

Witt, the No.  2 pick in the 2019 draft, is regarded as one of the top three overall prospects in the Majors, even topping the lists at MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. He forced his way onto the big league roster not only with last year’s combined .290/.361/.576 batting line between Double-A and Triple-A, but also with a massive spring showing. In a dozen Cactus League games and 34 plate appearances, Witt batted .406/.441/.781 with three home runs, three doubles and a pair of steals (in two attempts).

Even before the new collective bargaining agreement’s “prospect promotion incentives” went into place, the Royals have been unafraid to call up their best prospects as soon as they’re deemed ready. The Royals organization hasn’t made a habit of gaming service time in the past, evidenced both by president of baseball operations Dayton Moore’s public stance on the matter and the Opening Day appointments of several prospects (most recently, right-hander Brady Singer in 2020).

Witt, 21, has been primarily a shortstop in his brief minor league tenure but is expected to shift to the hot corner in the big leagues. The Royals are deep in infield talent, and Nicky Lopez in particular played shortstop at a Gold Glove-caliber level this past season. Witt could still see his share of reps at shortstop, but Adalberto Mondesi is also in the picture there.

Tillo, 25, split the 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he pitched to a combined 4.03 ERA with a 27-to-20 K/BB ratio in 29 innings of work. A third-round pick by the Royals back in 2017, Tillo has a career 4.25 ERA in 330 2/3 innings at the minor league level, most of which have come as a starter. The Royals will have a week to trade Tillo, place him on outright waivers or release him.

Share 0 Retweet 3 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Newsstand Transactions Bobby Witt Jr. Daniel Tillo Joel Payamps

7 comments

Royals Rework Whit Merrifield’s Contract

By Anthony Franco | April 6, 2022 at 6:58pm CDT

6:58pm: Merrifield’s escalators are based on the number of days he spends on the injured list, MLBTR has learned. So long as he spends fewer than 110 days on the IL this year, he’ll receive the full $6.75MM in 2023.

6:19pm: The Royals announced this evening they’ve agreed to a restructured contract with infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield. The club has preemptively exercised his 2023 team option, and the parties have added a mutual option covering the 2024 season. Merrifield is represented by Warner Sports Management.

Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports the financial breakdown of the deal (on Twitter). Merrifield will make $7MM in 2022 and $2.75MM in 2023 (with an additional $4MM in possible escalators). The deal also contains an $18MM mutual option for 2024 that contains a $500K buyout.

It’s an atypical tack for a team to take, but the Royals and Merrifield have had a very productive 12-year relationship. The Kansas City organization is generally regarded as one of the more loyal in the sport, and the Royals front office was steadfast about keeping Merrifield even as they rebuilt in recent seasons. There’s little question club brass is fond of the University of South Carolina product, and that affinity presumably contributed to their decision to exercise his 2023 option a year early.

Of course, there was never much doubt it’d be picked up. Kansas City signed Merrifield to a four-year extension that guaranteed him $16.25MM back in January 2019. That was a very affordable deal reflecting his status as a late bloomer, as Merrifield didn’t break camp on an Opening Day roster until 2017 — his age-28 campaign. With no path to free agency until his mid-30s, Merrifield elected to lock in some guaranteed earnings, while the club avoided his salaries escalating especially high via arbitration.

Under the terms of his previous contract, which had been front-loaded, Merrifield had been slated to make $3.25MM this year with a $7MM club option that would’ve escalated to $11MM for 2023 had he avoided a lengthy IL stint. As Mark Feinsand of MLB.com points out (on Twitter), the renegotiation more evenly distributes the team’s commitments over the next two years, paying Merrifield more up-front while clearing some payroll space next season.

Kansas City’s payroll jumps to around $97MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. The team’s 2023 commitments dip to approximately $36MM. Kansas City isn’t punting on the 2022 campaign, but they’re a bit of a longshot competitor in the AL Central. With young players like Bobby Witt Jr., Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez set to arrive this year, the 2023 season and beyond should be firm win-now seasons. The front office will have a bit more money with which to work next offseason, while Merrifield is no doubt happy for the immediate raise (and the insurance that preemptively exercising the option guarantees in the event of a catastrophic injury this year).

Share 0 Retweet 11 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Transactions Whit Merrifield

34 comments

Drew Butera Retires

By Darragh McDonald | April 5, 2022 at 8:36pm CDT

Drew Butera has made the leap from the roster to the coaching staff, as Sam Blum of The Athletic reports that Butera will now act as the bullpen catcher for the Angels.

Butera was selected by the Mets in the fifth round of the 2005 draft but was traded before making it to the big leagues. In 2007, he was sent to the Twins as part of the deal for second baseman Luis Castillo. Butera went on to make his MLB debut as a Twin in 2010 and played parts of four seasons in Minnesota. Although he didn’t hit much in that time, he did rack up one significant career highlight in that stretch, as he caught Francisco Liriano’s 2011 no-hitter.

He was traded to the Dodgers at the deadline in 2013 and spent a season and a half there, catching a second no-hitter, this time with Josh Beckett in 2014. After that season, he was traded across town to the Angels, playing just ten games for them in 2015 before being traded to the Royals. This proved to be an extremely fortuitous deal for Butera, as Kansas City would go on to win the World Series that fall. In the final game of the series, the club’s starting catcher, Salvador Perez, was removed for a pinch runner, which led to Butera catching the final strike as Wade Davis struck out Wilmer Flores to clinch the title.

The following year was probably Butera’s best, at least at the plate. He hit .285/.328/.480 for a wRC+ of 115 in 56 games, a showing that earned him a two-year, $3.8MM deal to stay in KC. He was traded to the Rockies in the second year of that deal and then spent the next few seasons there, with a brief interlude in the Phillies organization for Spring Training 2019. Last year, he got into 12 games with the Angels, the team with which he will now stay on in his new role.

Butera, 38, finishes his career having made 1,473 plate appearances in 556 MLB games over 12 seasons, racking up 262 hits, 59 doubles, 5 triples, 19 homers, 123 runs scored and 123 runs batted in. He caught the final out of a World Series and a pair of no-hitters. MLBTR congratulates Butera on a fine playing career and wishes him the best in his coaching career and any other post-playing ventures.

Share 0 Retweet 12 Send via email0

Colorado Rockies Kansas City Royals Los Angeles Angels Los Angeles Dodgers Minnesota Twins Drew Butera Retirement

46 comments
« Previous Page
Load More Posts
Show all
    Top Stories

    Zack Wheeler Recommended For Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Surgery

    Frankie Montas Done For 2025 Due To “Pretty Significant” UCL Injury

    Orioles Extend Samuel Basallo

    Astros Sign Craig Kimbrel

    Pirates Promote Bubba Chandler

    Evan Carter Diagnosed With Fractured Wrist

    Blue Jays Activate Shane Bieber

    MLB, ESPN Nearing Deal Involving MLB.TV And In-Market Rights For Five Clubs

    Rays Promote Carson Williams

    Red Sox To Promote Jhostynxon Garcia, Place Wilyer Abreu On IL

    Kyle Tucker Was Diagnosed With Hairline Hand Fracture In June

    Félix Bautista Undergoes Shoulder Surgery, Expected To Miss 12 Months

    Phillies Place Zack Wheeler On Injured List With Blood Clot

    Red Sox Finalizing Deal With Nathaniel Lowe

    Marcelo Mayer To Undergo Season-Ending Wrist Surgery

    Orioles Promote Samuel Basallo

    Josh Hader Diagnosed With Shoulder Capsule Sprain, Hopes To Return In Playoffs

    Nationals Request Unconditional Release Waivers On Nathaniel Lowe

    Cubs To Promote Owen Caissie For MLB Debut

    Astros Place Josh Hader On Injured List Due To Shoulder Strain

    Recent

    Zack Wheeler Recommended For Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Surgery

    Frankie Montas Done For 2025 Due To “Pretty Significant” UCL Injury

    IL Activations: Chapman, Yates

    Padres Place Jackson Merrill On 10-Day Injured List

    Rangers Place Marcus Semien On IL, Activate Adolis Garcia

    Tigers Sign Kevin Newman To Minor League Deal

    Mariners Designate Dylan Moore For Assignment

    Astros Designate Shawn Dubin For Assignment

    Jon Gray Non-Committal About Playing Beyond 2025

    Twins Designate Jose Urena For Assignment

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Every MLB Trade In July
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version