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Royals Notes: India, Outfield, Wright

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The Royals seem to have avoided what could’ve been a brutal blow this evening when infielder Jonathan India exited the club’s game against the Guardians due to what the club later announced was a bout of right quad tightness. After the game, manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anne Rogers) that the tightness India was suffering from was “mild” in nature but that it wasn’t loosening up throughout the game. The plan appears to be for Kansas City to further evaluate India’s status on Sunday, though Quatraro’s framing of the issue offers hope that a trip to the injured list may not be necessary.

India, 28, spent the first four seasons of his career as the regular second baseman in Cincinnati but was traded to the Royals alongside outfielder Joey Wiemer in a deal that brought back right-hander Brady Singer. Since arriving in Kansas City, India has split time between third base and left field while serving as the club’s leadoff hitter. He’s hit just .216/.333/.275 14 games into his Royals career, but his identical 13.3% strikeout and walk ratios showcase the strong plate discipline that the organization sought when they acquired India back in November. Given his previous track record of productivity and his lackluster .256 BABIP, it seems reasonable to expect the results to come with time over a larger sample size.

Those hopes of better offensive days in the future could be put on hold for the time being depending on how the club’s evaluation of India goes tomorrow. Should he require a few days off, or even a trip to the injured list, Maikel Garcia would likely step into his shoes at third base while some combination of Cavan Biggio and Drew Waters could be expected to handle India’s usual reps in the outfield. Speaking of the club’s outfield situation, veteran Mark Canha was placed on the injured list due to adductor strain earlier this week. Fortunately, Rogers notes that this issue has also been described by team officials as a relatively mild one, with Quatraro indicating that Canha should not take much longer than a minimum stay on the shelf due to the issue.

Canha was acquired by the Royals from the Brewers just before the season began after he signed with Milwaukee on a minor league deal but didn’t make the club out of Spring Training. While Canha wasn’t in a full-time role with the Royals prior to his injury, the 36-year-old veteran was making a strong case for more regular playing time as he slashed .357/.471/.500 across his first seven games with the club. Given the Royals’s overall lackluster production from the outfield both this year and last season, it would make plenty of sense for Canha to take on a larger role with the club once he rejoins the roster after his injured list stint is up. In the event that India requires an IL placement of his own, it’s even possible that Canha could fill in for him once the latter is back from his own trip to the shelf.

Sticking with more positive injury news, Rogers reported this evening that Kyle Wright is making progress with his throwing program in extended Spring Training. The right-hander threw two innings earlier this week before following the outing with a bullpen session to reach his pitch count goal. It was Wright’s first time pitching in a game in quite some time, as Wright missed most of the 2023 season and the entire 2024 campaign after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder. He was expected to be ready to go this spring, but was sidelined at the start of camp by a hamstring strain and has been working his way back ever since. Now that he’s back on the mound, Wright appears to be on solid pace to make his return to the big leagues (and his first start with the Royals since being acquired from Atlanta) sometime next month. Wright’s return would likely push veteran swingman Michael Lorenzen into a bullpen role, assuming the rest of the rotation remains healthy.

Royals Place Hunter Harvey On Injured List

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3:10pm: Anne Rogers of MLB.com relays some more info from manager Matt Quatraro. Harvey’s strain is grade 1, the lowest severity. He will be re-evaluated next week.

2:04pm: The Royals announced that they’ve placed right-hander Hunter Harvey on the 15-day injured list due to a teres major strain. Fellow righty Steven Cruz has been recalled from Triple-A Omaha in his place. The team has not yet provided a timetable for Harvey’s return.

Harvey, acquired from the Nationals last July, has been outstanding to begin the 2025 season. He’s appeared in six games and tossed 5 1/3 shutout frames with only one hit allowed and seven strikeouts. Strong as that start has been, it hasn’t come without red flags. The flamethrowing Harvey averaged 97.8 mph on his heater in 2024 but has averaged 95.3 mph on the pitch in the early stages of the current season. He’s seen a similar velocity drop in his splitter.

Kansas City parted with third base prospect Cayden Wallace and their Competitive Balance draft selection (No. 39 overall) to acquire Harvey last year. (The Nats selected catcher Caleb Lomavita with that pick.) However, Harvey pitched just 5 2/3 innings for the Royals following that swap, as a back injury wiped out the remainder of his season. He’s now headed back to the shelf for a yet-to-be-determined period of time.

Injuries are nothing new for Harvey. The former No. 22 overall draft pick (Orioles, 2013) had Tommy John surgery back in 2016 and has also missed extended periods of time with strains of his oblique, forearm (twice) and elbow. The 60 2/3 innings he pitched for the Nationals in 2023 stand as his career-high mark.

Carlos Estevez has picked up four of the Royals’ five saves this year. (Daniel Lynch IV has the other.) Harvey and Lucas Erceg have served as the primary setup men for Estevez. Lynch and John Schreiber figure to move up the pecking order and take on more leverage work in Harvey’s absence.

Octavio Dotel Dies In Roof Collapse Tragedy

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Former major leaguer Octavio Dotel has died in a tragic accident, Major League Baseball confirmed. The news was first reported by multiple outlets in the Dominican Republic, including Diario Libre. The roof of the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning. As of Tuesday night, at least 98 people have lost their lives while nearly 200 more were injured, according to The Associated Press. Dotel was 51 years old.

Exact details of the tragic situation are difficult to pin down, but it appears hundreds of people were in the venue for a concert when the collapse happened. Dozens of people have been pulled out alive but many have died and the figures are likely to change. Dotel was reportedly trapped for about 11 hours before being rescued and initially survived, but was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.

Dotel was well known to baseball fans because he pitched in the majors for over a decade and bounced around to various teams. He made his major league debut with the Mets in 1999, working in a swing role. He was traded to the Astros ahead of the 2000 season and continued to work both out of the rotation and the bullpen for a while.

He eventually moved into a primary relief role and had more success. Though his earned run average was over 5.00 in both 1999 and 2000, he posted a 2.66 ERA in 2001. He tossed 105 innings over 61 appearances, only four of those being starts.

He continued working as a solid reliever for years after that, bouncing to the Athletics, Yankees, Royals, Braves, White Sox, Pirates, Dodgers, Rockies, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Tigers. He finished his career with a 3.78 ERA in 758 games. He recorded 109 saves and 127 holds. He won the World Series with the Cardinals in 2011. He was a part of a combined no-hitter with the Astros in 2003. He retired in 2014.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our deepest condolences to Dotel’s family, friends and fans, as well as the hundreds of others who have been impacted by this awful event.

Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images

Royals Acquire Nick Gordon

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1:27PM: The Orioles will receive cash considerations in return, MLB.com’s Anne Rogers reports.

12:28PM: The Royals have acquired Nick Gordon from the Orioles, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports.  Baltimore’s end of the trade return isn’t yet known.  Gordon signed a minor league deal with the O’s last winter, and he’ll now join the team that his father Tom pitched with from 1988-95.

Drafted fifth overall by the Twins in 2014, Gordon is a known commodity to the Royals from his 243 games with Minnesota across the 2021-23 seasons.  It seemed like Gordon was breaking through when he hit .272/.316/.427 over 443 plate appearances for the Twins while playing all over the diamond in a super-sub role, but a fractured shin limited him to 34 MLB games in 2023.  Minnesota then dealt Gordon to the Marlins in February 2024, and Gordon hit only .227/.258/.369 over 95 games and 275 PA with Miami, playing mostly as a left fielder.

This tenure in South Beach ended when the Marlins outrighted Gordon off their 40-man roster last August, and he spent the rest of the season in Triple-A.  He elected minor league free agency in October and landed with Baltimore, though his chances of making the Opening Day roster always seemed rather slim, given the number of infield options the Orioles already had available.

Gordon will now get a fresh start in Kansas City, and perhaps be in a slightly better position for a big league call-up.  The Royals have other MLB-experienced players as Harold Castro and Jordan Groshans at Triple-A, though the likes of Nick Loftin, Joey Wiemer, or Drew Waters (who have also seen time in the majors) are already on the 40-man roster.  The fact that the Royals went out and got Gordon, however, indicates that the team wasn’t entirely satisfied with its roster depth, plus Gordon adds some more left-handed hitting to the mix.

Poll: Who Will Win The AL Central?

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Opening Day has finally arrived, and teams all around the league are gearing up for another pennant chase in hopes of being crowned this year’s World Series champion. Of course, there’s still another seven months to go before someone raises the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. We’ll be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. That series has already covered the National League, with the Dodgers, Cubs, and Phillies each coming out on top in their respective divisions. In the American League, meanwhile, the Rangers were voted as the most likely AL West winner. Next up is a look at the AL Central. Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.

Cleveland Guardians (92-69)

The Guardians surprised the baseball world by not only storming back to the top of the AL Central in Stephen Vogt’s first year replacing Terry Francona as manager in Cleveland, but by pushing past the Astros to secure a playoff bye alongside the Yankees. Though the club ultimately fell to New York in the ALCS, their strong showing inspired plenty of optimism about the club’s future. The offseason saw some major changes come to the organization as Andres Gimenez departed the club in a series of moves that ultimately brought back righty Luis Ortiz. The addition of Ortiz should help bolster a rotation that was the club’s clear weakness last year, as should getting more out of Shane Bieber after he returned to the club in free agency over the offseason.

Aside from that stronger rotation mix and the aforementioned loss of Gimenez, the 2025 Guardians don’t look much different than the 2024 club. Josh Naylor departed via trade but was swiftly replaced with Carlos Santana in his third stint with the club, and the club swapped Tyler Freeman for Nolan Jones just before Opening Day. Meanwhile, Jakob Junis and Paul Sewald add depth to a bullpen that was already baseball’s best last season. A stronger rotation mix should help the Guardians stay at the top of the AL Central this year, though they’ll need strong performances from players like Jones, Brayan Rocchio, and Kyle Manzardo in order to match last year’s output in the lineup without Naylor’s bat and Gimenez’s glove in the fold.

Kansas City Royals (86-76)

After making it back to the playoffs for the first time since their World Series championship in 2015, the Royals stayed busy in the offseason. They retained their strong front three of Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, and Michael Wacha in the rotation while trading fourth starter Brady Singer to the Reds to land Jonathan India, who has split time between left field and third base for the club so far this year. Meanwhile, the Royals made a splash at the back of their bullpen by signing closer Carlos Estevez to handle the ninth inning, bolstering a relief group that was a big source of frustration last year. Overall, the pitching staff seems to be in an even better place than 2024 with Singer set to be replaced in the rotation by some combination of Kris Bubic, who excelled in a short stint with the bullpen last year, the eventual return of Kyle Wright from the injured list.

Less certain is how the club will stack up on offense. India was the club’s only major addition to the lineup, though swinging a trade for Mark Canha just before Opening Day should raise the floor offensively and bringing in Cavan Biggio could also improve the club’s depth. India and Canha should help to balance out a lineup that was far too reliant on Bobby Witt Jr. last year. Even so, the club will either need Witt to repeat his otherworldly production or significant steps forward from players like MJ Melendez and Maikel Franco if they’re going to be even an average offense in 2025, given that last year’s club managed a wRC+ of just 96. Will the club’s modest improvements be enough to take control of the Central?

Detroit Tigers (86-76)

As is a theme throughout the AL Central, the Tigers were relatively quiet this winter. The lineup is largely unchanged from last year, with second baseman Gleyber Torres and outfielder Manuel Margot standing as the club’s only additions of significance. The duo’s right-handed bats should help to balance out a Tigers lineup that leans heavily to the left, but the more significant additions to the Tigers this year are in the rotation. The return of Jack Flaherty after the club traded him to the Dodgers over the summer should give the club an impressive prospective playoff rotation, with Flaherty joining reigning AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal, 2024 breakout righty Reese Olson, and perhaps top prospect Jackson Jobe to make what could rival the Royals for the division’s best rotation. Alex Cobb, meanwhile, should add some veteran depth to the rotation and has been extremely effective when healthy in recent years.

Impressive as the rotation mix might be, the Tigers’ lackluster offensive additions mean a lot will need to go right for the club in the lineup if they’re going to make it back to October. Strong, healthy seasons from Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter will be a must, and steps forward from youngsters like Colt Keith and the ever-streaky Spencer Torkelson would go a long way to getting the club back to the postseason. As for the club’s bullpen, little changed outside of the addition of right-hander Tommy Kahnle, so the club will once again need strong performances from pieces like Tyler Holton and Will Vest in 2025. Will all of that be enough to overcome the Royals and Guardians in 2025?

Minnesota Twins (82-80)

After a disappointing season where the club appeared poised to make the postseason before collapsing in dramatic fashion down the stretch, the Twins are more or less running back the same club they put forward in 2024. Carlos Santana, Max Kepler, and Caleb Thielbar all departed the club with reasonable facsimiles of their expected production entering the door in their place when the club signed Ty France, Harrison Bader, and Danny Coulombe. Aside from that trio of modest additions to replace outgoing free agents, the Twins did very little to augment the club this winter. That’s not to say another weak season should be expected, however. On paper, the Twins have long been the most talented club in the AL Central and that figures to once again be the case in 2025.

Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis, and Byron Buxton all have star potential when healthy, though Lewis has already opened the season on the injured list. Brooks Lee (also on the IL) and Matt Wallner provide plenty of upside to the club’s lineup, and steady contributors like Willi Castro, Ryan Jeffers, and Jose Miranda should help make for a strong offensive nucleus. The rotation, meanwhile, has a solid front three in the form of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober to go along with a handful of interesting back-end options like Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa. Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax make for a frightening combo at the back of the bullpen, leaving the club without any clear holes. With that being said, health and consistency have always been difficult to come by in Minnesota despite a deep and talented group of players. Will they be able to put it all together in 2025?

Chicago White Sox (41-121)

After the worst season in MLB history, the White Sox did little to inspire optimism about the 2025 season. Arguably, the club is weaker on paper than it was last year after losing Erick Fedde at the trade deadline and Garrett Crochet over the offseason. Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery should arrive sometime this year to pick up the slack, and a fully healthy and productive season from Luis Robert Jr. would go a long way to getting the White Sox away from that 120-loss threshold. Even with those potential upsides, however, it would be perhaps the most shocking turnaround in baseball history if this club managed to bring a division title back to the south side of Chicago in 2025.

__________________________________________

The offseason didn’t see any status-quo-altering changes in the AL Central. While the three postseason clubs from last year all made at least some modest additions, the story of the division is not all that dissimilar from 2025. After a 92-win season in 2025, the Guardians’ pitching additions seem likely to be enough to make them a potential favorite as long as Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan continue to play up to lofty expectations, though the additions Detroit and Kansas City made can’t be ignored. The Twins lurk in the background, meanwhile, even after a quiet offseason thanks to their strong in-house group of talent. With four of the division’s five clubs likely to be in the mix for the AL Central crown once again, who do you think is most likely to come out on top? Have your say in the poll below:

Who Will Win The AL Central?
Detroit Tigers 30.39% (1,849 votes)
Kansas City Royals 25.97% (1,580 votes)
Cleveland Guardians 23.27% (1,416 votes)
Chicago White Sox 10.52% (640 votes)
Minnesota Twins 9.86% (600 votes)
Total Votes: 6,085

Royals Select Tyler Tolbert

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The Royals announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Tyler Tolbert from Triple-A Omaha. They had an open 40-man spot already and only needed to clear an active roster spot, which they did by placing outfielder Dairon Blanco on the 10-day IL due to right Achilles tendinopathy.

Tolbert, 27, will make his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game. The former 13th-round pick has never hit much in the minors but nevertheless leads all of Minor League Baseball with 215 steals dating back to the 2021 season. That’s partially due to the fact that some others who might’ve challenged him for that lead instead made their way to the big leagues sooner and have stuck there, but it’s nonetheless an impressive mark, particularly considering that he’s only been caught 15 times — a staggering success rate of 93.5%

Despite is impressive wheels, however, Tolbert’s bat is quite suspect. He turned 27 in January but has just 99 plate appearances above the Double-A level. He’s hit .153/.258/.177 in that small sample and carries a .269/.337/.391 output in 1036 Double-A plate appearances. Overall, Tolbert is a .245/.333/.359 hitter in pro ball.

On the defensive side of the coin, Tolbert has spent the majority of his career up the middle. Shortstop has been his primary spot on the diamond, but he has nearly 1800 innings in the outfield (1338 in center) and 528 frames as a second baseman under his belt. He’ll be a bench player for manager Matt Quatraro, offering a high-end pinch runner late in games or a defensive replacement in the outfield. He doesn’t draw particularly strong grades for his up-the-middle glovework, but he’d be an upgrade over defensively challenged left fielder MJ Melendez.

Tolbert will seemingly take the role of a speedy bench player, which has been Blanco’s primary job in recent years. Since the start of 2022, Blanco has appeared in 165 games for Kansas City but has only been sent to the plate 278 times. He has a roughly league average line of .258/.314/.417 but has stolen 58 bases in 70 attempts. His sprint speed was ranked in the 97th percentile last year and in the 100th in 2023.

It was noted back in February that Blanco was dealing with soreness in his Achilles. He eventually made the Opening Day roster but it seems the issue has lingered enough that the club will put him on the shelf for a while.

MLBTR Podcast: What We Learned From The Offseason

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • At the start of the offseason, we expected players to do better than in 2023-24 and it seems like they did. What can we learn from that? (1:50)
  • Apart from Juan Soto and Willy Adames, a lot of top position players have been struggling in free agency. Is this signal or noise? (7:10)
  • There seems to be growing frustration from fans of small-market clubs, with new CBA talks just over the horizon. How will baseball respond? (20:00)
  • The Mets outbid the Yankees on Soto. Is this a paradigm shift in New York? (36:40)
  • Does the Soto deal help the top of next year’s market, guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kyle Tucker? (45:50)
  • Many Central division teams had almost no money to spend due to TV revenue concerns. Are there solutions coming in the future? (54:40)
  • With the Rays stadium situation, the Twins being for sale, the White Sox and Royals trying to get new stadium money, is expansion possible in the near term? (59:30)
  • Things we’re excited about going into the 2025 season (1:05:55)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Cavan Biggio Expected To Make Royals’ Roster

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The Royals announced a wide slate of cuts this morning. Infielder Harold Castro, righty Taylor Clarke, catcher Brian O’Keefe and infielder Tyler Tolbert were all reassigned to minor league camp. All were non-roster invitees. Meanwhile, infielder Nick Loftin and outfielders Drew Waters and Joey Wiemer were optioned to Triple-A Omaha. That leaves just 26 players in camp — one of whom is non-roster utilityman Cavan Biggio. Barring an injury in today’s final Cactus League game, he’ll be selected to the 40-man roster and break camp with the team. The Royals already have a pair of 40-man vacancies, so a corresponding move won’t be necessary.

It’s been a strange spring for Biggo. The longtime Blue Jays infielder is hitting just .194 in his 46 plate appearances, but he’s struck out only six times (13%) and drawn a whopping 11 walks (23.9%). He’s sitting on an oddball .194/.457/.355 line overall. Biggio has long been renowned for his patience at the plate, having drawn a walk in 13.5% of his career plate appearances in the majors.

Biggio’s keen eye and the small-sample improvement in his contact skills — he’s fanned in 32% of his plate appearances — coupled with his defensive versatility to put him in position for an Opening Day spot in Kansas City. He can feasibly mix in at second base, third base and in the outfield corners.

The Royals will also cycle Jonathan India, Michael Massey, Maikel Garcia, MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe through those spots and at designated hitter. Garcia is coming off a rough year at the plate. Massey hasn’t quite cemented himself as a regular. India will play multiple positions. Melendez still hasn’t hit in the majors. Renfroe struggled in 2024. Each of those players has some level of uncertainty, and Biggio will add a typically serviceable, OBP-focused backup or complement to the group.

The 29-year-old Biggio (30 in April) is looking for a rebound of his own. He’s coming off an ugly .197/.314/.303 batting line (84 wRC+) in 224 plate appearances between the Jays, Dodgers and Braves last year. He turned in a solid .235/.340/.370 line in 338 trips to the plate as recently as 2023 in Toronto, however.

Royals Acquire Mark Canha From Brewers

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March 24: Canha was officially added to the 40-man today, as announced by the Royals. No corresponding move was necessary because they had several vacancies, with their 40-man count now at 38.

March 21: The Brewers are trading first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha to the Royals, report Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of The New York Post. According to Anne Rogers of MLB.com, Milwaukee receives a player to be named or cash in return.

Canha signed a minor league deal with the Brewers last month. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams wrote yesterday, the 10-year veteran is one of a number of players who could soon opt out of that contract if not added to the major league roster. Kansas City evidently was more willing to carry him on the MLB club, as Rogers notes that Canha will join their bench. They’ll need to add him to the 40-man roster by next Thursday. He’ll lock in a $1.4MM base salary for this season.

The Royals have looked for a right-handed bat to add some balance to their outfield. They reportedly offered Adam Duvall a major league contract a few weeks ago, but he declined in search of a $3MM guarantee. Canha will now take that role after combining for a .242/.344/.346 slash between the Tigers and Giants last season. His numbers have trended down in three consecutive years, but he still takes plenty of walks while putting the ball in play a little more often than the average hitter.

Canha hits left-handed pitching well. He owns a .258/.356/.419 line across nearly 500 plate appearances against southpaws over the last three seasons. He should take a few at-bats from MJ Melendez and could spell Vinnie Pasquantino at first base against lefty pitching. Kansas City didn’t get much out of righty-swinging Hunter Renfroe in right field last season, either, so Canha could factor in there too in less of a strict platoon role.

Royals Outright Nick Pratto, Nelson Velazquez; Phillies Claim Carlos Hernandez

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The Royals have cleared three spots on their 40-man roster, according to a report from Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The club placed first baseman Nick Pratto, outfielder Nelson Velazquez, and right-hander Carlos Hernandez on waivers. Hernandez was claimed by the Phillies, while both Pratto and Velazquez cleared waivers and have been outrighted to Triple-A. The Phillies subsequently announced they’ve designated right-hander Tyler Phillips for assignment to make room for Hernandez on the roster.

Hernandez, 28, is a hard-throwing righty who signed with the Royals out of Venezuela and made his pro debut back in 2017. He climbed the minor league ladder before eventually making it to the majors during the 2020 campaign, although his five-appearance cup of coffee was one to forget with a 4.91 ERA and 6.40 FIP in 14 2/3 innings of work. Nonetheless, he served in a swing role for Kansas City the following year and found success in that role, pitching to a 3.68 ERA and 4.08 FIP across 85 2/3 innings of work. That seemed to hint at a fairly bright future in store for the right-hander, but things didn’t work out that way as Hernandez struggled badly over the next two years with a 6.21 ERA in 126 innings of work as he struck out just 19.8% of opponents while walking them at a hefty 11% clip.

Those struggles were enough to spur a full-time move to the bullpen for Hernandez in 2024, and the results were a clear improvement. On the surface, his numbers looked excellent as he pitched to a 3.30 ERA with a 3.50 FIP in 30 innings of work. With that being said, it can’t be ignored that Hernandez also allowed three unearned runs, struck out just 20.9% of his opponents, and struggled badly at Triple-A when not in the majors with a 5.40 ERA in 26 2/3 innings of work. Most concerning was his walk rate, which ballooned to a career-high 12.4% last year. Those issues left Hernandez without a guaranteed roster spot headed into Spring Training, and with no minor league options left the Royals had no choice but to place him on waivers when his 6.97 ERA in 10 1/3 spring innings did not justify a spot in the club’s bullpen.

That gave the Phillies the opportunity to swoop in an add a high-velocity arm off waivers, though they had to part ways with Phillips in order to do so. The 27-year-old made his big league debut with Philadelphia last season and struggled to a 6.87 ERA in 36 2/3 innings of work split between seven starts and one relief outing. The Phillies will have one week to either trade Phillips or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he goes unclaimed, the club can outright him to the minors as a non-roster depth option. Meanwhile, Hernandez figures to enter the club’s bullpen as a possible long relief option alongside Joe Ross and Taijuan Walker, though the latter could be ticketed for a return to the rotation if Ranger Suarez opens the season on the injured list.

As for Velazquez and Pratto, both are young hitters who have shown promise at points in their careers but have struggled to find consistency at the big league level. Velazquez was acquired from the Cubs at the 2023 trade deadline in exchange for right-hander Jose Cuas and impressed in 40 games down the stretch with the club before stumbling to a lackluster .200/.274/.366 slash line in 64 games last year. Pratto, meanwhile, was the club’s first-round pick in 2017 and once a consensus top-100 prospect, but he’s failed to hit in the majors so far with just a .216/.295/.364 slash line across 144 games at the big league level. Both players will now serve as non-roster depth for the club this year and try to play their way into another big league opportunity at Triple-A.

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