Royals Hire Brian Sweeney As Pitching Coach
The Royals announced two additions to their coaching staff today, with Brian Sweeney being named pitching coach and José Alguacil named infield coach.
Sweeney, 48, is a former big league pitcher, having thrown for the Mariners and Padres over 2003-2006. He went to Japan for three seasons from 2007 to 2009 and came back to the Mariners in 2010. He played a few more seasons in the minors but that was his last stint in the big leagues.
Prior to the 2015 season, he took a pitching coach job in the minor league system of the Phillies. He joined Cleveland’s coaching staff at the big league level going into 2018 and has served as their bullpen coach for the past three years. He’s now been poached by Cleveland’s division rival and will come to Kansas City to serve as the pitching coach. Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports that Royals’ owner John Sherman, who used to be a minority owner of the Guardians, has been “extremely involved” in the process of filling out the coaching staff.
Getting better results from the pitching staff will surely be a primary area of focus for the Royals, as many of their young pitchers have disappointed in recent years. Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic and Jackson Kowar have all struggled in their MLB time so far, despite being first-round draft picks. Those disappointing results have helped lengthen the club’s rebuilding period, with their last season above .500 coming with their World Series victory back in 2015.
They’ve made many changes to try to turn their fortunes around going forward, including firing president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, manager Mike Matheny and pitching coach Cal Eldred. General manager J.J. Picollo is now in charge of the front office while Matt Quatraro is now the bench boss. Sweeney will jump onto Quatraro’s staff to replace Eldred.
As for Alguacil, 50, he spent 15 years in the Giants’ organization, taking on various roles including first base coach at the MLB level from 2017 to 2019. He spent last year as a minor league infield coordinator with the Nationals but will now return to the big leagues with the Royals.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Sweeney’s hire prior to the official announcement.
Minor Moves: Sweeney, Tuiasosopo, Redding, Cabrera
The latest minor league deals…
- The Mariners signed former MLB reliever Brian Sweeney to a minor league contract, MLB.com's Greg Johns reports. Sweeney spent the 2011 season with the Mets' top affiliate and last appeared in the Majors with the 2010 Mariners.
- The Twins signed left-hander Luke French, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports (Twitter links). French owns a 4.99 ERA with 4.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 155 Major League innings.
- The Mets signed infielder Matt Tuiasosopo, who picked up MLB experience with the Mariners from 2008-10, Eddy reports.
- The Blue Jays signed right-hander Tim Redding and left-hander Bill Murphy, according to Eddy. Redding has substantial MLB experience as a starter for the Astros, Nationals and Mets.
- Eddy reports that four catchers signed minor league deals: Mitch Canham joined the Rockies, Orlando Mercado agreed to terms with the Marlins, Kyle Phillips caught on with the Blue Jays and Max St. Pierre signed with the Red Sox. Phillips appeared in 36 games for the 2011 Padres and St. Pierre made his debut with the 2010 Tigers after 14 minor league seasons.
- Former MLB starter Daniel Cabrera signed a minor league deal with the Pirates, Mario Rojas of CandelaDeportiva reports. Cabrera, 30, was a fixture in Baltimore's rotation from 2004-08, but hasn't pitched in MLB since 2009.
- The Cubs re-signed infielder Bobby Scales, who started the 2011 season in Chicago before going to Japan, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus tweets.
- The Phillies re-signed former Tigers outfielder Brent Clevlen, Goldstein tweets.
- The Orioles signed 18-year-old outfielder Andres Aguilar, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. The speedy Guatemala native has a strong throwing arm.
Mets Sign Brian Sweeney
The Mets have signed right-hander Brian Sweeney to a minor league contract, according to a release from Sweeney's most recent team, the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League. Sweeney posted a 3.16 ERA and 2.33 K/BB ratio in 24 relief appearances for the Mariners last season, then was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks over the winter and released by the Snakes during Spring Training.
Sweeney, a 36-year-old Yonkers native, has a career 3.38 ERA in 73 Major League games with the Mariners and Padres. He also pitched in Japan for the Nippon Ham Fighters from 2007-09 before returning to the majors last year.