Blue Bloods [OOTP 18]

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ROSTER | STANDINGS | STATISTICS | MINOR LEAGUES

ROYALS OWNER TO STEP ASIDE; MOORE NAMED TEAM PRESIDENT
By artoodeetoo, royalsbaseball.com
10/31/2017

Royals owner David Glass, 81, has decided to step aside as the team's CEO, and hand over the decision-making power to his son, Dan. The elder Glass will retain his ownership of the team, and continue to set operational budgets along with his son.

In a press conference, The Glasses and general manager Dayton Moore were all on hand to announce the move. In addition, Moore has shed one title for another -- he'll take over as President of Baseball Operations effective immediately. He was previously the team's general manager, but now will take more of an administrative role with the front office.

Additionally, they'll stay in-house to replace Moore. Artsiv Worbyeln, a 34-year old who headed the team's statistical research department before taking an assistant GM role prior to the 2017 season; and had emerged as one of Moore's top trusted advisors, will take over the day-to-day operations of the team. The team had approached both minor league director J.J. Piccolo and Vice-President of Baseball Operations George Brett about the position, but both declined.

It is a hierarchy that is employed by a few teams around the league, most notably the Chicago Cubs with team president Theo Epstein and executive VP/GM Jed Hoyer. Both are heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the team, but Hoyer gets the final say.

Worbyeln will be the youngest GM-in-title in the league, surpassing the 37-year old Matt Klentak of Philadelphia, who held that title for about a week. Klentak was another young executive in the Phillies' statistical analysis area that earned the job as part of the new wave of statistical analysis in the sport.

Milwaukee fired David Stearns last week, who had only been on the job for two seasons. Stearns is thirty-two years old, and was the youngest executive at the time.

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ROSTER | STANDINGS | STATISTICS | MINOR LEAGUES

WORBYELN OFF TO A HOT START
By artoodeetoo, royalsbaseball.com
11/02/2017, 02:45 P.M.

New Royals GM Artsiv Worbyeln has hit the ground running, making a flurry of decisions barely days into his new position. His latest move was to shake up the coaching staff, as he dismissed hitting coach Dale Sveum earlier this morning, after just shy of four years on the job. No other coaching decisions at the major-league level are expected, but a slew of minor-league openings are on the docket.

The Royals' offense had scuffled mightily in the past few seasons, and were last in the American League in most categories this past season with the exception of average (.242, 13th), hits (1321, 13th), and extra-base hits (442, 14th). They also ranked 11th in stolen bases (53), and slipped to fifth in fewest strikeouts, after ranking first in all of baseball in that category three years running.

The hack-and-slash approach that resulted in back-to-back World Series appearances has slowly eroded as teams have figured out that the Royals will swing at just about anything. With back-to-back seasons and no playoffs with the offense playing a big role, changes were needed.

Manager Ned Yost and Sveum, who coached together in Milwaukee (and Sveum took over in 2008 after Yost's inexplicable firing), are close friends; and for Yost, it hurt to see his good friend go. But he understood the ramifications and wished Sveum the best.

"It's tough to see, and no one wants to see anyone let go," he remarked. "But maybe it's time for a different approach to how we do things. Dale's a fine coach and a better human being...he'll land on his feet somewhere."

In other personnel news, the Royals also designated catcher Drew Butera for assignment. Butera is still owed $2.3M in 2018, but it is unclear if he'll accept an outright assignment to Omaha. Additionally, tomorrow is the due date for decisions on team and player options. Right-hander Ian Kennedy ($49M over three years) and outfielder Jorge Soler ($12M over three years) have player options, and reliever Mike Minor ($10M) has a team option for 2018.

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ROSTER | STANDINGS | STATISTICS | MINOR LEAGUES

ROYALS REJECT TEAM OPTION FOR MINOR
By artoodeetoo, royalsbaseball.com
11/03/2017, 10:58 A.M.

Lefty reliever Mike Minor's 2018 team option was denied this morning, making him a free agent. More importantly, the move will also save $10M towards the 2018 payroll. Minor was 4-5 with one save, and a 4.38 ERA in forty-one games (49 1/3 IP). With a crowded left-handed presence in the bullpen, this clears the picture up somewhat.

Outfielder Jorge Soler and Ian Kennedy also did not exercise their opt-out clauses, electing to play out their current contracts. Kennedy will earn $16M in 2018, while Soler is set to earn $4M this upcoming season.

In 2019 and 2020, Kennedy's salary will rise to $16.5M. Soler will make $4M in both 2019 and 2020.

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OFFSEASON MAJOR TRANSACTIONS LOG

Friday, 02/02/2018 - Thursday, 02/15/2018
15: St. Louis signs free agent RHP Wade Davis to 3-year, $63.6M contract

14: Chicago signs free agent RHP Yu Darvish to 2-year, $41.2M contract

04: Boston signs free agent OF Jay Bruce to 2-year, $10.6M contract
04: Seattle signs free agent RHP Drew Storen to 1-year, $7.6M contract

02: Washington signs free agent LHP Tony Watson to 3-year, $18.8M contract

Friday, 01/12/2018 - Thursday, 02/01/2018
01: New York (A) claims OF Billy Burns off waivers from Kansas City

30: Milwaukee claims RHP Seung-hwan Oh off waivers from St. Louis

29: Kansas City signs free agent RHP Greg Holland to 3-year, $24.9M contract

28: Los Angeles (N) signs free agent LHP Jerry Blevins to 2-year, $11.1M contract
28: Milwaukee signs free agent 1B Yonder Alonso to 3-year, $20.6M contract
28: Boston signs free agent OF Michael Saunders to 2-year, $12.1M contract

27: Chicago (A) signs free agent OF J.D. Martinez to 3-year, $14.36M contract
27: St. Louis signs free agent RHP Tyler Clippard to 1-year, $2.08M contract

26: Miami signs 3B Derek Dietrich to a 5-year, $38.92M extension

24: Seattle signs free agent RHP Hisashi Iwakuma to 1-year, $9.6M extension

19: Detroit signs free agent OF Carlos Gomez to 3-year, $9.12M contract

17: San Diego signs free agent RHP Neftali Feliz to 3-year, $17.1M contract

13: Chicago (A) signs free agent C Matt Wieters to 4-year, $35.8M contract

Friday, 01/05/2018 - Thursday, 01/11/2018
10: Houston designates 1B Jon Singleton for assignment, placed on waivers

08: New York (N) signs RHP Matt Harvey to 5-year, $83.4M extension
08: Colorado signs free agent RHP Jae-sung Pak to 3-year, $7.56M contract
08: Detroit trades C John Hicks, RHP Eric White to New York (A) for OF Brett Gardner (40%)

06: Kansas City trades RHP Chris Young to Los Angeles (N) for INF Erisbel Arreubarrena (25%)
06: Baltimore signs free agent RHP Michael Pineda to 2-year, $13.5M contract

Friday, 12/29/2017 - Thursday, 01/04/2018
04: Houston claims LHP Chasen Shreve off waivers from New York (A)

02: Colorado signs free agent 1B Chris Carter to 1-year, $890,000 contract

31: Texas signs free agent 1B Mike Napoli to 1-year, $2.52M contract
31: Cincinnati signs free agent LHP Francisco Liriano to 2-year, $9.12M contract
31: Arizona trades RHP Jake Barrett to New York for RHP Dillon Tate

30: Boston signs free agent OF Curtis Granderson to 2-year, $13.4M contract
30: Pittsburgh signs free agent RHP Jeremy Hellickson to 2-year, $13.8M contract

29: St. Louis signs free agent 1B Lucas Duda to 2-year, $9.5M contract

Friday, 12/22/2017 - Thursday, 12/28/2017
27: Oakland trades SS Marcus Semien to Detroit for RHP Chaz Roe, RHP Oswaldo Castillo

26: Detroit signs free agent RHP Joba Chamberlain to 1-year, $910,000 contract
26: Los Angeles (A) claims RHP Steven Okert off waivers from San Francisco

24: Seattle signs free agent RHP Joe Blanton to 1-year, $2.16M contract
24: Philadelphia signs free agent OF Colby Rasmus to 1-year, $4.64M contract

22: Cleveland signs free agent OF Melvin Upton, Jr., to 1-year, $1M contract
22: San Francisco designates RHP Steven Okert for assignment, placed on waivers

Friday, 12/15/2017 - Thursday, 12/21/2017
21: Oakland trades LHP Daniel Coulombe to San Diego for RHP Adrian De Horta, 3B Westhers Magdaleno

17: San Diego signs free agent RHP Anibal Sanchez to 1-year, $870,000 contract

16: New York (N) signs free agent OF Carlos Gonzalez to 2-year, $16.2M contract

15: Texas trades RHP Matt Bush to St. Louis for OF Randal Grichuk

Friday, 12/08/2017 - Thursday, 12/14/2017
14: Toronto trades OF Steve Pearce (75%) and $350,000 cash to Detroit for RHP Shane Greene
14: Colorado trades 2B D.J. LeMahieu to New York (N) for LHP Steven Matz
14: Texas signs free agent LHP Matt Moore to 4-year, $42.1M contract
14: Detroit trades RHP Buck Farmer to Atlanta for C Anthony Recker

13: Milwaukee trades OF Kyle Wren to Colorado for C Tony Wolters
13: New York (A) signs free agent 3B Mike Moustakas to 6-year, $51.2M contract
13: Los Angeles (A) signs free agent 2B Neil Walker to 4-year, $36.8M contract
13: Chicago (N) signs free agent RHP Marco Estrada to 2-year, $39.6M contract
13: Oakland signs free agent OF Jarrod Dyson to a 3-year, $8.8M contract

12: Cincinnati trades C Devin Mesoraco to Washington for C Seby Zavala, INF Osvaldo Abreu, RHP Andrew Lee
12: Chicago (A) trades RHP David Robertson (35%) to Tampa Bay for C Ronaldo Hernandez, OF Manny Sanchez, OF Jose Tonton, 2B Jonathan Aranda
12: Miami trades RHP Edinson Volquez to New York (A) for INF Jae-gwun Hyang, Yeison Corderrera
12: Cincinnati trades OF Phil Ervin to New York (A) for C Donny Sands, C Eduardo Navas
12: Chicago (N) signs free agent RHP Jeanmar Gomez to 2-year, $21M contract
12: Los Angeles (N) signs free agent RHP Addison Reed to 2-year, $5.12M contract

11: Cleveland trades OF Michael Brantley to Texas for RHP Jeremy Jeffress, RHP Cole Ragans
11: Arizona trades OF Kelly Dugan to Philadelphia for RHP Jacob Waguespack, SS Jonathan Guzman
11: Oakland trades RHP Chris Bassitt to Pittsburgh for OF Brandon Dudley
11: Pittsburgh trades INF Alen Hanson to Los Angeles (A) for RHP Jose Alvarez, Francisco Del Valle

10: Boston signs free agent OF Melky Cabrera to 1-year, $6.8M contract
10: New York (N) signs free agent OF Shane Victorino to 1-year, $1.04M contract
10: New York (N) signs free agent RHP Sergio Romo to 2-year, $7.68M contract

09: Kansas City trades 3B Hunter Dozier to Texas for RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez

08: Chicago (N) signs free agent RHP Brandon Kintzler to 3-year, $31.8M contract

Friday, 12/01/2017 - Thursday, 12/07/2017
07: Pittsburgh trades RHP Ivan Nova to Houston for RHP Riley Farrell, INF Jonathan Arauz, INF Alex DeGoti
07: New York (N) signs free agent RHP Craig Kimbrel to 3-year, $39.2M contract
07: Houston signs free agent RHP Luke Gregerson to 3-year, $42.1M contract

06: Oakland trades RHP Brad Brach and $1.58M in cash to Boston for OF Keibert Petit
06: Chicago (N) signs free agent RHP John Lackey to 2-year, $19.6M contract
06: Washington signs free agent RHP Jake Arrieta to 6-year, $94.8M contract[b
06: New York (N) signs free agent 1B Carlos Santana to 5-year, $76M contract

05: Tampa Bay trades C Curt Casali to Washington for 1B Clint Robinson, OF Juan Soto

Friday, 11/24/2017 - Thursday, 11/30/2017
29: San Diego signs free agent RHP Jonathan Papelbon to 2-year, $3.28M contract

28: Oakland trades OF Chris Parmelee to New York (N) for RHP Colin Holderman, 3B Blake Tiberi
28: Chicago (A) trades INF Leury Garcia to San Diego for RHP Brandon Maurer

26: San Francisco signs manager Robin Ventura to 3-year, $1.3M contract

Friday, 11/17/2017 - Thursday, 11/23/2017
23: Washington signs manager Ron Washington to 4-year, $4.03M contract
23: Chicago (N) signs 3B Kris Bryant to a 7-year, $85.24M extension, avoiding arbitration

21: Milwaukee hires Peter Woodfork as general manager; signed to 3-year contract

20: San Francisco signs 2B Joe Panik to a 6-year, $60.58M extension, avoiding arbitration
20: Detroit signs 3B Nick Castellanos to a 5-year, $52.8M extension, avoiding arbitration

17: New York (N) signs RHP Noah Syndergaard to a 7-year, $112.4M extension, avoiding arbitration
17: Houston signs C Evan Gattis to a 4-year, $36.7M extension, avoiding arbitration

Friday, 11/10/2017 - Thursday, 11/16/2017
15: Arizona signs RHP Shelby Miller to 5-year, $45.9M extension, avoiding arbitration
15: Houston signs LHP Dallas Keuchel to 6-year, $109M extension, avoiding arbitration

13: New York (N) signs manager Carl Gadd to a 5-year, $3.8M contract

11: Baltimore re-calls RHP Gabriel Ynoa from Triple-A Norfolk
11: New York (A) signs RHP Dellin Betances to 1-year, $6.3M extension, avoiding arbitration
11: Colorado signs 2B D.J. LeMahieu to 1-year, $13.2M extension, avoiding arbitration
11: Arizona signs OF A.J. Pollock to 1-year, $15M extension, avoiding arbitration

10: Kansas City trades C Drew Butera, RHP Corey A. Ray to Baltimore for INF Ricardo Andujar
10: New York (N) resigns RHP Matt Harvey to a 1-year, $12.6M extension, avoiding arbitration
10: Chicago (A) signs LHP Carlos Rodon to 1-year, $3.96M extension, avoiding arbitration
10: Los Angeles (A) signs RHP Garrett Richards to 1-year, $8.8M extension, avoiding arbitration

Friday, 11/03/2017 - Thursday, 11/09/2017
09: Pittsburgh signs RHP Gerrit Cole to 1-year, $9.1M extension, avoiding arbitration
09: Oakland signs RHP Sonny Gray to 1-year, $4.72M extension, avoiding arbitration
09: Toronto signs 3B Josh Donaldson to 1-year, $18M extension, avoiding arbitration
09: Baltimore signs LHP Zach Britton to 1-year, $16.2M extension, avoiding arbitration
09: Boston signs LHP Drew Pomeranz to 1-year, $11.7M extension, avoiding arbitration

08: Colorado signs OF Charlie Blackmon to 1-year, $13.2M extension, avoiding arbitration
08: Washington signs RHP Kelvin Herrera to 1-year, $7.1M extension, avoiding arbitration
08: Seattle signs SS Jean Segura to 1-year, $8.1M extension, avoiding arbitration
08: New York (N) signs RHP Jeurys Familia to 1-year, $10.5M extension, avoiding arbitration

07: Boston signs RHP Joe Kelly to 3-year, $12.72M extension, avoiding arbitration
07: New York (N) signs RHP Zack Wheeler to 6-year, $56M extension, avoiding arbitration
07: Los Angeles (N) signs C Yasmani Grandal to a 3-year, $45.7M extension, avoiding arbitration

06: Boston signs SS Xander Bogaerts to a 5-year, $82.3M extension, avoiding arbitration
06: Cleveland signs RHP Cody Allen to a 1-year, $9.1M extension, avoiding arbitration
06: Houston signs OF George Springer to a 6-year, $76.3M extension, avoiding arbitration

05: St. Louis signs RHP Michael Wacha to a 5-year, $75.5M extension, avoiding arbitration
05: Chicago (A) signs 1B Jose Abreu to a 1-year, $15.2M extension, avoiding arbitration

04: Tampa Bay signs SS Brad Miller to a 4-year, $57.3M extension, avoiding arbitration
04: Boston signs OF Jackie Bradley, Jr., to a 6-year, $82.8M extension, avoiding arbitration

03: Atlanta trades RHP Jimmy Nelson to Minnesota for RHP Tristan Widra, RHP Bryse Wilson
03: Pittsburgh trades OF Andrew McCutchen to San Francisco for RHP Alex Lange, OF Heath Quinn, OF Jordan Paroubeck, LHP Mac Marshall, LHP Joe Gobillot

NOTE: Italics indicate minor-league player
*Transactions list from bottom to top in reverse

TOP 25 FREE AGENTS
RHP Jake Arrieta (Signed; Washington, 6-year, $94M)
RHP Yu Darvish (Signed; Chicago (N), 2-year, $41M)
RHP Wade Davis (Signed; St. Louis, 3-year, $63.6M)
RHP Marco Estrada (Signed; Chicago (N), 2-year, $39.6M)
OF Carlos Gonzalez (Signed; New York (N), 2-year, $32.4M)
1B Carlos Santana (Signed; New York (N), 5-year, $76M)
RHP Luke Gregerson (Signed; Houston, 3-year, $42.1M)
RHP Craig Kimbrel (Signed; New York (N), 3-year, $39.2M)
C Matt Wieters (Signed; Chicago (A), 4-year, $35.6M)
2B Neil Walker (Signed; Los Angeles (A), 4-year, $36.2M)
OF Jay Bruce (Signed; Boston, 2-year, $10.6M)
LHP Matt Moore (Signed; Texas, 4-year, $42.1M)
RHP Brandon Kintzler (Signed; Chicago (N), 3-year, $31.8M)
RHP Jeanmar Gomez (Signed; Chicago (N), 2-year, $21M)
1B Yonder Alonso (Signed; Milwaukee, 2-year, $20.6M)
RHP Koji Uehara (Signed; Los Angeles (A), 1-year, $9.6M)
OF Lorenzo Cain
RHP John Lackey (Signed; Chicago (N), 2-year, $19.6M)
3B Mike Moustakas (Signed; New York (A), 6-year, $51M)
2B Ian Kinsler
INF Eduardo Nunez
3B Todd Frazier
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (Signed; Seattle, 1-year, $9.6M)
1B Eric Hosmer
OF Carlos Beltran

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ROSTER | STANDINGS | STATISTICS | MINOR LEAGUES

ROYALS DEAL BUTERA
By artoodeetoo, royalsbaseball.com
11/10/2017, 11:16 A.M.

After about a week of limbo, the Royals found a trade partner for backup catcher Drew Butera in Baltimore. The Royals shipped the veteran catcher along with minor league pitcher Corey Ray to the Orioles for shortstop Ricardo Andujar. With Alcides Escobar now gone, and Raul Mondesi in the major leagues, it leaves a pretty gaping hole at shortstop in the minor league system.

It's another cost-cutting move in the infancy of the Artsiv Worbyeln era, as Butera was scheduled to earn $2.3M in 2018 before being designated for assignment. He refused an assignment to Omaha, so the Royals have worked to find a trade partner over the past handful of days.

Butera hit .164 in 140 plate appearances in 2017, walking just twice and striking out a whopping forty-six times.

TRANSACTIONS

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ROSTER | STANDINGS | STATISTICS | MINOR LEAGUES

MINOR MOVES: NOVEMBER 13TH
By artoodeetoo, royalsbaseball.com
11/13/2017, 11:16 A.M.

Each Monday this off-season, we'll provide news and notes from the Royals' minor league system. It's been a busy first week with rookie GM Artsiv Worbyeln at the parent club level, as he has already jettisoned backup catcher Drew Butera to Baltimore in what amounted to a salary dump, and voided a $10M team option on relief pitcher Mike Minor.

The shortstop acquired in the Butera deal, 25-year old Ricardo Andujar, hit .307 in High-A ball in 2017, and is slated to begin the 2018 season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. The team also dealt minor-league reliever Corey Ray to Baltimore in the deal. Ray, 25, sported a 3.87 ERA for the Double-A Naturals in 2017, but is not considered to be in the team's future plans.

Here are some other things you may have missed in the last week:

-Another one of Worbyeln's first moves in his initial days was to announce that minor-league director J.J. Piccolo and scouting director Lonnie Goldberg would be retained as part of the new staff. For Goldberg, this season will be his eighth as the scouting director, and 11th with the franchise overall. Piccolo has been mentioned as part of the Brewers' GM search after the dismissal of David Stearns; but if he does not take that position, this will be Piccolo's 11th season as the team's minor league boss.

-It was a big week for Northwest Arkansas. The Royals hired former Seattle Mariners infielder and MLB Network commentator Harold Reynolds to manage the team in 2018, signing a two-year contract. Reynolds has never coached or managed at any level; and had never shown an inclination to coach or manage in the past, so this is a bit of a surprise move. However, the move has been well-received internally and nationally, despite Reynolds' past allegations of sexual harassment while at ESPN in 2006.

-Two former Royal players also inked contracts to coach in the minor leagues. Former pitcher Rusty Meacham (Burlington) and former outfielder Ernie Young (Omaha) signed one-year contracts as pitching coach and hitting coach, respectively, for those teams. Young played one season with the Royals in 1998. He hasn't managed or coached since 2012, when he managed Detroit's A-ball affiliate, West Michigan. This is his first coaching job in minor league baseball above that level. Meacham spent four years with the Royals from 1992 through 1995, fashioning a 19-12 record with a 3.74 ERA. Those numbers included ten wins in 1992, the best mark for reliever wins that year. He had been pitching professionally up until 2010, when he pitched in one game for the Tijuana Cimmarrones of the Baja California League in his age-41 season.

-Veteran reliever Bobby Parnell signed a minor league contract on November 11th. He pitched in forty-six games for Omaha with a 3.78 ERA in 2017, and figures to compete for a bullpen role as a non-roster invitee this spring.

TRANSACTIONS