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Kris Bubic

Royals Designate Joey Wiemer For Assignment

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The Royals designated outfielder Joey Wiemer earlier today, and shifted left-hander Kris Bubic from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL.  The moves cleared some 40-man roster space after a busy day of transactions for Kansas City, as Mike Yastrzemski, Bailey Falter, Stephen Kolek, and Ryan Bergert were all brought into the organization.

Wiemer came to K.C. in another prominent trade last November, when Wiemer and Jonathan India came to the Royals from the Reds in exchange for Brady Singer.  Wiemer hasn’t received any big league playing time since the deal, and he has hit just .182/.291/.312 over 296 plate appearances at Triple-A Omaha.  This is Wiemer’s fourth straight season with at least a bit of action at the Triple-A level, and after some big numbers with the Brewers’ top affiliate in 2022, his production has steadily declined.

Almost all of Wiemer’s big league experience came in his 2023 rookie season, when he hit .204/.283/.362 over 410 plate appearances with Milwaukee.  He stole 11 bases in 15 attempts and displayed very good glovework at all three outfield spots, and those same skills combined with his hitting prowess early in his minor league career helped Wiemer get some top-100 prospect attention.  However, he made just 28 trips to the plate over 21 games with the Brewers and Reds in 2024, and the Royals are now the third team to seemingly lose faith in Wiemer’s ability to turn it around at the plate.  Some teams could take a flier on Wiemer as a late bloomer.

Even just as a glove-only bench piece, Wiemer has some value to other teams on the waiver wire, especially now that the deadline has passed and depth options are harder to acquire.  If Wiemer clears waivers, he can’t reject an outright assignment off the Royals’ 40-man roster, since he has neither a past outright on his resume or enough service time to be eligible for free agency.

Bubic will miss the rest of the season due to a rotator cuff strain, so it was just a matter of time before the Royals made it official by placing the southpaw on the 60-day IL.

Kris Bubic To Miss Remainder Of 2025 Season With Rotator Cuff Strain

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Royals left-hander Kris Bubic will be out for the remainder of the 2025 season after suffering a rotator cuff strain in his most recent outing, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The 27-year-old exited his start on Saturday in the third inning, later telling Rogers that “something’s not right.” He noted that he had been pitching through a stiff shoulder for “a good portion of the season,” but what he felt on Saturday was worse than stiffness. The team placed him on the 15-day IL on Sunday, and further testing evidently found the injury to be quite serious. Thankfully for the young hurler, he is not expected to need surgery (per Sam McDowell of The Kansas City Star) and hopes to have a normal offseason. The Royals have not yet transferred Bubic to the 60-day IL, but they will presumably do so as soon as they need to open up a spot on their 40-man roster.

Most evaluators saw Bubic as a back-end starter in his prospect days, and that’s pretty much who he was over his first three seasons, pitching to a 4.89 ERA in 67 games (57 starts) from 2020-22. He then missed most of 2023 and a good part of ’24 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. When he returned in the latter half of 2024, he looked like a brand-new pitcher. Working out of the bullpen, he produced a 2.67 ERA in 27 games, striking out 32.2% of the batters he faced while walking only 4.1%. His four-seam fastball and changeup, always the bread and butter of his arsenal, looked better than ever, while he turned his slider into a sweeper and enjoyed tremendous success with the new breaking pitch.

The Royals moved Bubic back into the rotation in 2025, and he didn’t miss a beat. While he wasn’t as overpowering as he had been out of the bullpen, he was every bit as successful. Through 20 starts, Bubic pitched to a 2.55 ERA in 116 1/3 innings of work. He was named to the AL All-Star team earlier this summer. While his underlying metrics (3.06 xERA, 3.74 SIERA) suggested he wasn’t likely to maintain a sub-3.00 ERA all season, there was no denying that Bubic was a breakout star. With Bubic, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Noah Cameron atop their rotation, the Royals looked like dark horse postseason contenders, even with Cole Ragans on the IL and arguably the least productive offense in the American League.

By trading for Adam Frazier and Randal Grichuk earlier this month, and by extending a potential trade chip in Lugo, the Royals signalled that they would be buying rather than selling ahead of this Thursday’s trade deadline. However, their chances of leapfrogging the four teams ahead of them for a Wild Card berth are significantly lower without Bubic. Kansas City is down to four healthy starting pitchers now, and one of them is 45-year-old Rich Hill. In addition to Ragans and Bubic, Michael Lorenzen and Alec Marsh are also on the IL. The Royals have averaged fewer runs per game than any other team in the AL, and it’s starting to look like they just won’t have enough healthy pitching to compensate for their pitiful offense.

Royals Place Kris Bubic On IL With Rotator Cuff Strain

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11:46am: The Royals have announced that Bubic is being placed on the 15-day injured list with a left rotator cuff strain. Rogers reports that the lefty will undergo further testing to determine next steps. In the meantime, the Royals have recalled right-hander Jonathan Bowlan to replace Bubic on the active roster.

10:12am: The Royals appear to be inching more closely to buying than selling given their recent acquisition of Diamondbacks outfielder Randal Grichuk, but talented southpaw Kris Bubic has been a much speculated-upon trade candidate this summer nonetheless. Recent indications have been that the Royals aren’t inclined to part ways with the lefty, and that may be even more true now. Bubic exited his start yesterday after just 2 2/3 innings of work, and MLB.com’s Anne Rogers relays that Bubic told reporters last night that “physically, something’s not right” after his most recent outing. Bubic added that he’s been battling shoulder stiffness throughout “a good portion of the season.” It’s unclear if a trip to the injured list is in the cards for the lefty, who told reporters (including Rogers) that he would see how he feels this morning.

If Bubic is indeed dealing with an injury that requires a trip to the shelf, it would be be a huge blow to the club’s already somewhat remote chances of making it to the postseason this year. The left-hander has been a revelation this season as a member of the rotation, with a 2.55 ERA and 2.85 FIP across 20 starts. Those sterling numbers even after this latest difficult outing, where his velocity was down and he walked four batters against just one strikeout while surrendering four runs (three earned).

If the Royals were to sneak into the postseason, a rotation fronted by Bubic, Seth Lugo, and (should he return from the injured list this year) Cole Ragans would be formidable enough to keep them in any series. With Ragans already dealing with a rotator cuff strain and Bubic now seemingly facing some sort of injury as well, however, it could be hard for the club to justify surrendering long-term assets in order to augment the club further.

On the other hand, Bubic stood as perhaps the club’s single most valuable trade asset if they were to move into the sell lane. These injury questions would only serve to worry potential suitors for Bubic’s services, and it’s hard to imagine the club selling low on such a talented player given that he’s controlled through the end of the 2026 campaign. Perhaps the news regarding Bubic would make the club more open to parting ways with Lugo, who has a player option for 2026 that he’s very likely to decline. That could be especially true if Bubic undergoes testing that reveals a serious injury that will sideline him for quite some time, but until more information about Bubic’s status is available it’s difficult to do anything beyond speculate.

Even if Bubic is out for an extended period, it appears that a Lugo trade would hardly be guaranteed. Lugo is eligible to receive a Qualifying Offer following the 2025 campaign, meaning the club could recoup value from him even if he walks in free agency this winter. The Royals have also expressed at least some level of interest in keeping last year’s AL Cy Young award runner-up in the fold beyond the life of his current contract, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see them try and work out a new contract with him as they did with right-hander Michael Wacha last winter.

Indeed, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported this morning that the club is currently showing “little interest” in dealing Lugo and “would love” to ink an extension with the veteran righty. That stance surely comes from prior to Bubic’s difficult start last night, however, and there’s no telling how the club’s thinking could be changed by the left-hander’s status until more is known about the severity of the issue bothering him.

Latest On Seth Lugo’s Trade Candidacy

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Seth Lugo reeled off another productive start this afternoon, tossing six innings of two-run ball to earn the win at Wrigley Field. The veteran right-hander now carries a 2.95 earned run average with a 22% strikeout rate. This was his 11th quality start in 19 appearances.

Kansas City took two out of three from the Cubs, but they’re still three games under .500. They’re off tomorrow before home series against the Guardians and Braves that’ll take them to the deadline. Lugo would be lined up for one more start against Atlanta until the Royals need to decide on his future. He’ll very likely decline his $15MM player option for next season. Kansas City’s win today pulled them back within four games of the final AL Wild Card spot, pending Boston’s game in Philadelphia. The Rays, Guardians and Rangers all stand between them and Boston.

The Royals would get plenty of calls on Lugo, who’d be one of the best short-term starting pitchers on the market if K.C. made him available. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reported yesterday that the Cubs were among the teams that have had conversations with Kansas City about their pitching. Morosi added that the Royals are unsurprisingly more likely to trade Lugo than they would be to part with southpaw Kris Bubic. ESPN’s Jeff Passan hears similarly, writing that the Royals are more focused on Lugo at the moment.

That doesn’t mean Lugo is a lock to move. Passan adds that if the Royals feel they’re still in the Wild Card mix, they could keep the veteran right-hander and make him a qualifying offer when he hits free agency. That would at least ensure them a compensatory draft pick if Lugo walks. That’d come after the first round if he landed at least a $50MM guarantee; it’d come between the end of Competitive Balance Round B and the beginning of the third round (roughly 75th overall) if his contract is below $50MM.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic also suggests that the Royals have yet to decide whether to deal Lugo. He writes that Kansas City feels they’d have a decent chance to re-sign him as a free agent — following a similar path to last winter’s new deal with Michael Wacha after he opted out. If the Royals were to trade Lugo, Rosenthal adds that they’d want controllable outfield help. K.C.’s longstanding issue getting any kind of offense from their outfielders makes that a logical target.

The opt-out clause in Lugo’s contract is a somewhat complicating factor. While he’d very likely be a rental, an acquiring team would assume the risk that he suffers a significant injury in the final two months and then accounts for $15MM in dead money next season. That wouldn’t be detrimental, especially to a high-payroll franchise, but is a downside that teams will want to price into their trade offers if Kansas City shops Lugo.

Bubic, meanwhile, is under arbitration control for another season. The All-Star lefty is playing on a $3MM salary and should push into the $6-7MM range next year. Bubic has a sterling 2.38 ERA with a 24.9% strikeout rate in 113 2/3 innings in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery.

Teams might have some workload questions after the injury limited him to 46 1/3 combined frames between 2023-24. There are few potentially available pitchers who are performing better than he is, though, so other clubs are surely calling the Royals to gauge his availability. The extra year of club control makes him a longer shot trade candidate for a K.C. team that’ll expect to compete next season even if they’re soft sellers over the coming eight days.

The Royals’ Rotation Looks Stronger Than Ever

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The Royals had one of baseball’s best rotations in 2024. Kansas City starters posted a 3.55 earned run average that trailed only the 3.38 mark of Seattle’s star-studded staff. They logged 911 innings, again second-best in MLB behind the Mariners. Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans placed among the top four in AL Cy Young balloting. Michael Wacha and Brady Singer weren’t at that level, but they each topped 160 innings with a mid-3.00s ERA.

Kansas City’s offense wasn’t nearly as productive. Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez (to a much lesser extent) carried an otherwise well below-average position player group. The Royals tried to balance things with one of the bigger trades of last offseason — swapping Singer to Cincinnati for Jonathan India and former well-regarded outfield prospect Joey Wiemer.

There’s risk any time a team trades a productive starting pitcher. The “no such thing as too much pitching” cliche exists for a reason. Still, the Royals felt comfortable moving on from Singer in large part because of Kris Bubic. He had undergone Tommy John surgery in April 2023. He returned in a relief role for the second half of last season. They decided early in the offseason that Bubic would return to his old rotation job.

Bubic is running with the opportunity. He has worked to a 1.98 ERA over his first seven starts. The 27-year-old southpaw is working nearly six innings per start and has only once surrendered more than three runs. He has rattled off quality starts in four of those appearances, ranking second on the team behind Lugo. Bubic is one of seven pitchers who has topped 30 innings with a sub-2.00 ERA through the season’s first six weeks. He has punched out an above-average 23.7% of opponents against a solid 7.7% walk rate.

While the strikeout rate is more good than exceptional, there’s probably some untapped upside in that regard. Bubic fanned 32.2% of opposing hitters en route to a 2.67 ERA in 30 1/3 innings last year. It wouldn’t be fair to expect him to fully repeat that as a starter — it’s easier to miss bats when you only face a hitter one time and can throw harder in short stints — but his per-pitch metrics are more impressive than this year’s strikeout rate would suggest. His 13.2% swinging strike rate ranks 20th in MLB (among 124 pitchers with 30+ innings). He’s 16th in whiff rate on pitches within the strike zone. While he’s never going to rival Ragans in terms of overpowering hitters, Bubic’s stuff plays.

Scouting reports have raved about his command dating back to his college days at Stanford. He has always had a fantastic changeup that makes him particularly tough on right-handed hitters. His breaking ball works more for weak contact than whiffs, but he’s able to miss bats with his fastball despite pedestrian 92-93 MPH velocity. The pitch plays above its speed at the top of the zone, where it gets good life that makes it difficult to differentiate from the changeup.

Bubic isn’t likely to maintain a sub-2.00 ERA all season, of course. He’s gotten some fortunate results on balls in play that should even out. Even if he ends up with an ERA in the low-3.00s rather than keeping up at a Cy Young pace, he should compensate for whatever production they lost by dealing Singer. Ragans, Lugo and Wacha remain an excellent top three. Michael Lorenzen is a fine if unexciting fifth starter, while Kyle Wright provides an interesting wild card as he finally nears his return from the shoulder surgery that wiped out his ’24 season.

The Royals may find themselves with an even better rotation than the one they rolled out a year ago. They’re leading MLB with 217 1/3 innings. Only the Mets (2.71) have a superior ERA than Kansas City’s 3.02 mark. The Royals are also eighth in strikeout/walk rate differential. Every pitching staff is dependent on health, but Kansas City may end up with baseball’s best rotation if their top four arms continue taking the ball.

They’ll need continued excellence from their starters to compete in a deceptively strong AL Central. The Royals have won five straight to push their record to 22-16. It’s the fourth-best mark in the American League but has them in third place in the division behind Detroit and Cleveland. The Central surprisingly produced three playoff teams a year ago. There’s a real chance it’ll do the same in 2025.

As was the case last season, Kansas City will approach the deadline in need of an offensive boost. They enter play Thursday ranked ahead of only the White Sox, Blue Jays, Rangers, Pirates and Rockies in scoring. India hasn’t provided the jolt they were anticipating at the top of the lineup. He’s hitting .228/.331/.299 with one homer through 148 plate appearances. Perez isn’t producing the same way he did last season, and the outfield has again been terrible. Maikel Garcia is out to a strong start, but he and Witt have been the only real sources of offense.

The Royals need to win low-scoring games all year, but they’re well positioned to do so as long as their pitching staff avoids major injuries. Lucas Erceg, Carlos Estévez and Hunter Harvey provide a better bullpen nucleus than they had at this point last season (though Harvey has been sidelined for a month due to a teres major strain). They’ll again be built primarily behind their rotation, which looks as strong as ever despite the offseason trade.

Image courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images.

Royals Planning To Move Kris Bubic Back To Rotation

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The Royals intend to use Kris Bubic as a starting pitcher in 2025, write Will Sammon, Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The southpaw pitched out of the bullpen this past season after a 14-month layoff rehabbing Tommy John surgery.

Kansas City presumably always intended for Bubic’s relief role to be a short-term measure to avoid placing too much stress on his arm shortly after surgery. The southpaw’s excellent performance in short stints could’ve at least made it tempting to keep him there. Bubic was dominant over 27 relief outings, turning in a 2.67 earned run average across 30 1/3 innings. He struck out 32.2% of opponents against a minuscule 4.1% walk rate. Bubic got whiffs on nearly 15% of his offerings, well above the 11.6% league average for relievers.

That’s a relatively small sample, but Bubic was arguably K.C.’s best setup option in front of closer Lucas Erceg. The bullpen remains a concern. Chris Stratton struggled in the first season of his two-year free agent deal, while deadline pickup Hunter Harvey barely pitched for K.C. because of back issues. John Schreiber and Sam Long had solid seasons, but neither profiles as a lockdown setup man. Former top prospect Daniel Lynch IV could be well-suited to a bullpen move. He pitched well in 13 relief outings, though he spent the majority of the season as rotation depth at Triple-A Omaha.

Kansas City’s rotation is more established. Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha form an excellent front three. After trading Brady Singer for Jonathan India, Kansas City has some combination of Bubic, Alec Marsh and Kyle Wright (who is returning after losing the ’24 season to shoulder surgery) to fill out the back of the staff. All three still have a minor league option. Bubic should be on the MLB roster in some capacity, seemingly as a starter, but either of Marsh or Wright could begin the year in Omaha if everyone is healthy coming out of camp.

While Bubic was excellent in relief, his track record as a starter is less impressive. The Stanford product has a career 4.99 ERA with a middling 20.1% strikeout rate over 297 2/3 innings out of the rotation. It’s possible he was about to turn a corner before the surgery. Bubic made a trio of starts in April 2023. He struck out 16 batters in as many innings while working to a 3.94 ERA. He had a 14.7% swinging strike rate — essentially matching this past season’s relief work — in those three appearances. If that was the sign of an impending breakout, it was put on hold when Bubic’s elbow blew out.

He’ll get another opportunity to see if he can maintain that newfound swing-and-miss as a starter. The Athletic writes that the Royals could limit his innings count to 140-150 next season to avoid overworking him. That’s not far below the workload expected of most modern starters, especially those who occupy mid-rotation roles, so it doesn’t seem as if he’ll be too restricted. Sammon, Woo and Rosenthal suggest that K.C. could look to add a swingman to strengthen their depth, though that’s not as pressing as their goal of adding an impact hitter on the trade market.

Royals Have Shown Interest In Alec Bohm, Taylor Ward

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The Royals have reportedly spoken to the Reds about a trade involving Kansas City right-hander Brady Singer and Cincinnati infielder Jonathan India, but that’s just one of multiple pursuits for Royals general manager J.J. Picollo, it seems. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports that while no deals are necessarily close as of this moment, the Royals have also spoken to the Phillies about third baseman Alec Bohm and to the Angels about outfielder Taylor Ward. Like India, both Bohm and Ward are right-handed bats with multiple seasons of club control remaining.

Bohm, 28, was the No. 3 overall pick back in 2018 and has settled in as a regular at third base in Philadelphia over the past four-plus seasons. He’s coming off an uneven 2024 season in which he was one of the game’s most productive hitters in April but followed it with five months of effectively league-average production. On the whole, he turned in a .280/.332/.448 batting line (115 wRC+). Over the past three seasons, Bohm has combined for a .278/.325/.427 slash, demolishing left-handed pitching along the way but producing at a roughly average clip against fellow righties.

Given his excellent bat-to-ball skills — 14.2% strikeout rate in 2024; 15.7% dating back to 2022 — Bohm is a sensible target for a Royals club that places a heavy emphasis on putting the ball in play. Kansas City had baseball’s third-lowest strikeout rate in 2024, and since 2021 only five teams have posted a lower collective strikeout rate than the Royals. Plugging Bohm in as a regular at third base would provide an offensive upgrade over slick-fielding Maikel Garcia, who’s arguably better suited as a utilityman, given his defensive chops.

Speaking of glovework, however, Bohm is something of a mixed bag on that front. The Royals have typically prioritized plus defenders in addition to their affinity for contact-oriented bats. Bohm has typically graded out as a poor defender at the hot corner, but he posted career-best marks in Defensive Runs Saved (0) and Outs Above Average (4) in 2024. If the Royals believe those gains can be sustained, he’d make all the more sense as a trade target.

Bohm is controlled for another two seasons. He’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $8.1MM in his penultimate year of arbitration eligibility in 2025. It’s a generally reasonable rate that shouldn’t be cumbersome, even for a mid-level payroll club like Kansas City. While the Royals have in-house options at third base (Garcia) and at second base (Michael Massey), their interest in India and Bohm suggests a desire to add at least one bat to that infield mix. First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and, of course, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. aren’t going to be displaced, leaving second base or third base as the likely positions to be upgraded.

For the Phillies, trading Bohm wouldn’t be so much about shedding salary or moving on from an unproductive player as it would reimagining an offense that hasn’t gotten them over the hump in recent postseason trips. Bohm has hit well with men on base in recent seasons (hence consecutive 97 RBI campaigns) but offers average power and stark platoon splits. The Phillies, meanwhile, don’t have ample pathways to pursuing upgrades in the lineup. First base (Bryce Harper), shortstop (Trea Turner), designated hitter (Kyle Schwarber), catcher (J.T. Realmuto) and right field (Nick Castellanos) are all manned by expensive veterans. Third base (Bohm), second base (Bryson Stott) and the other two outfield spots (combination of Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas and Austin Hays) are the primary areas where president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski can look to bring about some form of change.

As for Ward, he’s an on-paper trade candidate for an Angels club that just finished dead last in the American League West. However, owner Arte Moreno and GM Perry Minasian have both expressed a desire to put forth a competitive club next winter. Ward, coming off a .246/.323/.426 (111 wRC+) showing in 2024 and a .259/.338/.440 line (118 wRC+) since 2021, is seemingly a part of that vision. Few outsiders see a path to contention for the ’25 Angels, but the team’s actions thus far — trading for Jorge Soler and signing Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Hendricks and Kevin Newman — suggest that they’re more focused on adding than on subtracting.

As MLBTR’s Anthony Franco explored last month, there’s a scenario where the Angels move Ward and still make an effort to compete. Ward could be flipped for rotation help — a potential match with the Royals — or traded for younger talent, with the Angels reallocating his would-be salary to other areas of need. Swartz projects Ward for a $9.2MM salary in 2025, which isn’t unreasonable for a player of his ability but also isn’t a raucous bargain. The Royals could plug Ward into left field, providing a stark upgrade over MJ Melendez, and pair him with defensive standout Kyle Isbel in center and rebound hopeful Hunter Renfroe in right field.

There’s no telling just yet how it’ll all shake out, but it seems Kansas City is quite active on the trade front at the moment. In addition to the bats they’ve targeted, the Royals have received interest from other clubs in each of the aforementioned Garcia, Singer, right-hander Alec Marsh and left-hander Kris Bubic. Picollo and his staff seemingly have plenty of potential concepts to explore, with the end goal of bolstering a currently top-heavy lineup a fairly obvious priority.

Royals Could Listen On Kris Bubic, Alec Marsh In Search For Offense

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The Royals already knocked out one key bit of offseason business, re-signing Michael Wacha to a $51MM deal just before the veteran starter could discuss contracts with other teams. It seems they’ll now turn their attention to deepening a top-heavy lineup.

Will Sammon and Katie Woo of the Athletic write that the Royals are looking for ways to improve their on-base skills, particularly out of the leadoff spot. To that end, Sammon and Woo report that Kansas City may entertain trade offers on Kris Bubic or Alec Marsh if they can net lineup help.

The Kansas City offense was almost entirely dependent on Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez this year. They were the only Royals players to reach 20 homers. Of the nine K.C. hitters with 300+ plate appearances, four had better than average seasons by measure of wRC+. First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and second baseman Michael Massey only narrowly checked in above average, hitting for power but with middling on-base marks.

Finding a reliable table-setter in front of Witt and Perez was a huge challenge. Kansas City gave Maikel Garcia the majority of the playing time atop the lineup. Garcia stole 27 bases but provided very little at the plate. Royals leadoff men had a putrid .228/.270/.334 batting line overall. No team had a lower OBP out of the top spot, while only the White Sox got less slugging output. That left Witt to take a lot of at-bats with the bases empty. K.C.’s franchise shortstop ranked eighth in MLB in plate appearances with no one on base. The seven players ahead of him were all primarily leadoff hitters (thereby guaranteed to take at least one at-bat with the bases empty every game).

While a free agent pursuit of someone like Jurickson Profar or Gleyber Torres would address the leadoff spot, the Royals could do so more affordably by dealing from their pitching depth. Kansas City has an excellent front four in their rotation. Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo project as an elite 1-2 tandem. Wacha is back to resume his role as a quality third starter, while righty Brady Singer is a mid-rotation arm in his own right. The fifth spot is a little less established.

Marsh held that role for the bulk of the ’24 season. The Arizona State product started 25 times and tossed 129 innings of 4.53 ERA ball. He struck out 22.4% of opponents against a solid 7.1% walk rate. While it wasn’t a dominant showing, Marsh had serviceable numbers for a fifth starter. The Royals nudged him out of the rotation when they acquired Michael Lorenzen at the deadline. With Lorenzen returning to free agency, Marsh could be the in-house favorite for that job again.

He’ll have competition from former Brave Kyle Wright. Kansas City acquired the right-hander last offseason, weeks after Atlanta announced that the former fifth overall pick underwent shoulder surgery. The Royals stashed him on the injured list all year with an eye towards a 2025 return. While it’s difficult to bank on a pitcher who has missed the majority of the last two seasons to injury, Wright posted a 3.19 ERA over 30 starts in 2022. The Royals are surely interested to see how his stuff looks in Spring Training. That could increase their willingness to deal Marsh.

Bubic could be in the mix for the fifth starter role as well, but he spent this past season in the bullpen. The Stanford product underwent Tommy John surgery in April ’23. He was sidelined into the beginning of July this year. The Royals used him in relief when he returned. That helped an underperforming bullpen while limiting his workload in his first season back.

The move was a success. Bubic posted excellent numbers over 30 1/3 innings, turning in a 2.67 earned run average while punching out more than 32% of opponents. He got swinging strikes at a huge 14.8% clip while averaging a personal-high 93 MPH on his fastball in short stints. That’s much better than the 4.99 ERA he owns across 60 career starts, although he flashed better velocity and swing-and-miss acumen in a small sample in ’23 before going under the knife.

Kansas City’s bullpen remains a weak point. The Royals could prefer to keep Bubic as a potential leverage piece. There’d be plenty of teams interested in plugging him into their bullpens, while there are presumably clubs that still view him as a rotation target.

Bubic is under arbitration control for two more seasons. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $2.8MM salary. Marsh doesn’t have the same upside but comes with a much longer contractual window. He just surpassed one year of service and is controllable through 2029. He won’t get to arbitration for another two seasons and should have appeal for teams seeking an affordable fifth or sixth starter.

Royals Activate Kris Bubic From 60-Day IL, DFA Colin Selby

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The Royals announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Colin Selby for assignment. The move clears a spot for left-hander Kris Bubic, who has been activated from the 60-day injured list, on the 40-man roster. Lefty Walter Pennington was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Bubic on the active roster.

Selby, 26, made his MLB debut with the Pirates last year and struggled to a 9.00 ERA despite a 4.80 FIP in 24 innings of work. He remained on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster throughout the offseason but was designated for assignment in early April when the Pirates needed to clear space for catcher Joey Bart on their 40-man roster. The Royals promptly swung a trade to acquire Selby later that week, and he’s been in the Royals organization ever since. The righty made just two appearances total for Kansas City at the big league level where he surrendered three runs (two earned) on two walks and two hits without recording a strikeout.

The majority of Selby’s season has come at the Triple-A level, where he’s pitched to a 5.32 ERA in 22 innings of work between his time with the Pirates and Royals. Those mediocre results have come despite an excellent 29.5% strikeout rate at the level, as Selby has been held back by an elevated 11.6% walk rate. Selby’s penchant for giving up free passes has followed him at the big league level as well, as he’s walked 13.4% of the batters he’s faced in his 27 innings of big league experience while striking out a decent 23.6%. The Royals will have one week to work out a trade regarding Selby or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he clears waivers, the club will have the opportunity to outright him to Triple-A, where he’d serve as a non-roster depth option.

Selby’s departure makes way for Bubic, who is making his return to the big leagues after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in April of last year. The 26-year-old was selected by the Royals with the 40th overall selection in the 2018 draft and made his big league debut with the club back in 2020 as a starting pitcher. In three years as a member of the club’s rotation, Bubic generally posted results commensurate with those of a typical back-end starter. He pitched to a 4.89 ERA (90 ERA+) with a similar 4.93 FIP in 309 innings of work. While he struck out a decent 20% of batters faced, his 10.5% walk rate was on the high side and limited his effectiveness.

Bubic entered the 2023 season once again as a part of the rotation in Kansas City, and through three starts he appeared as though he may have been turning a corner. His 3.94 ERA, while it was 17% better than league average, wasn’t exactly anything to write home about. That being said, his peripheral numbers suggested the former top prospect may have been in a much better place than previous years. He was striking out 23.5% of batters faced on the year and, most importantly, was showcasing much stronger control with a minuscule 2.9% walk rate that left him with an excellent 2.63 FIP. Unfortunately, Bubic’s season was cut short by surgery before he or the Royals could see how sustainable that improved control truly was.

The lefty began his rehab process this year once again in a starting role, but recently moved into the bullpen near the end of his rehab assignment. That likely offers a hint as to the role he’ll be used in now that he’s back in Kansas City, as the Royals figure to stick with a rotation consisting of Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, Brady Singer, Michael Wacha, and Alec Marsh for the foreseeable future. While Bubic is seemingly poised to join the club in a multi-inning relief role, he’ll nonetheless look to carry over the strong results he achieved during his rehab assignment in Triple-A over to the majors. The lefty made nine appearances (five starts) at the highest level of the minors during his rehab, and pitched to a 2.63 with a 25.4% strikeout rate and an 8.8% walk rate in 27 1/3 innings of work.

Kris Bubic Moving To Bullpen On Rehab Stint

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Royals left-hander Kris Bubic is closing in on his first major league work since undergoing Tommy John surgery last April. The Stanford product began a rehab assignment last month and has made seven starts between Double-A and Triple-A.

While Bubic has worked from the rotation in the minors thus far, that won’t be his role with the big league club. General manager J.J. Picollo tells MLB.com’s Anne Rogers that the Royals are moving Bubic to the bullpen for now (X link). He has a week and a half left on his rehab assignment, so he’ll begin working in relief at Triple-A Omaha.

The assignment probably doesn’t come as a shock. While the 6’3″ southpaw has been a starter for essentially his entire career, Kansas City already has a defined front five. Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Brady Singer, Michael Wacha and Alec Marsh have taken all but four of the team’s starts this season. Ragans, Lugo and Singer have been varying degrees of excellent. Wacha is having his typically solid year, turning in a 4.07 ERA with plus control. K.C. signed him to fill that role as an innings eater and certainly isn’t bumping him from the rotation while he’s pitching this effectively.

Marsh is arguably the one question mark of the group. The second-year righty overcame a 15.9% strikeout rate to turn in a 2.70 ERA during the first month of the season. He dramatically increased the whiffs and ran a 3.86 ERA behind a 27.4% strikeout percentage in May. The wheels have fallen off over the past couple weeks, though. Marsh’s strikeout rate has normalized in between the levels of his first two months and he has allowed 6.66 earned runs per nine in June. He dominated the Yankees for seven scoreless innings on June 13 but has allowed at least three runs in the other six of his most recent seven starts.

If the Royals wanted to push Bubic back into the rotation, Marsh was the only one who might’ve been bumped. His overall body of work is still solid — a 4.40 ERA with average strikeout and walk rates — so the Royals will push Bubic to the bullpen instead.

Productive as their starting five has been, Kansas City’s relief group has been a weakness. They entered play Monday ranked 22nd in the majors with a 4.43 earned run average. No bullpen has recorded fewer strikeouts (17.5%) or missed fewer bats on a per-pitch basis (8.9% swinging strike rate). Picollo has already made clear the front office will try to add some firepower via trade.

Bubic isn’t the kind of power arm the front office has been seeking. His fastball sits in the low-90s and he leans on a low-80s changeup, not a power breaking ball, as his go-to secondary pitch. Yet Bubic had flashed bat-missing upside just before his elbow gave out. He ran a massive 14.7% swinging strike rate and punched out 23.5% of opposing hitters over his first three starts in 2023. Bubic’s elbow never gave him a chance to prove he could sustain that extra level.

The early returns on his rehab stint have been promising. Bubic owns a 2.14 ERA in 21 innings with Omaha, where he has fanned nearly 26% of opposing hitters.

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