JAN. 5: Madson will earn $850K if he makes the big league club and has the opportunity to earn up to $150K via incentives, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
JAN. 4: The Royals and Ryan Madson have agreed to a minor league deal, a source tells Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. The pact includes an invitation to major league spring training.
Madson, 34, hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2011 because of elbow issues. In that season, Madson established himself as one of the game’s most promising closers, pitching to a 2.37 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 48.8% ground ball rate in 60 2/3 innings for the Phillies. When a reported four-year, $44MM deal fell through between the two sides, he joined up with the Reds on a much smaller contract, but he never made it to the mound.
Even with his injury woes, teams were still anxious to sign Madson, a reliever boasted a half-decade of strong late inning work. The Halos gave Madson a deal worth $3.5MM in guaranteed money prior to the 2013 season, but he was only able to make one brief Advanced-A appearance all year long. After that, the All Bases Covered client sat out 2014.
The right-hander pitched to a 2.89 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 329 2/3 innings from 2007-2011. In parts of nine seasons with the Phillies from 2003-11, the veteran posted a 3.59 ERA with 7.8 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 47.7% ground ball rate.
