Blue Bloods [OOTP 18]

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ROSTER | STANDINGS | STATISTICS | MINOR LEAGUES

MINOR MOVES: JANUARY 1ST
By artoodeetoo, royalsbaseball.com
01/01/2018

The Royals signed two Dominican players to Minor League deals this past week, as third baseman Juan Morales and Jorge Flores signed for $50,000 and $65,000, respectively. They will not begin play until the Dominican league begins in June.

Morales, 16, is already a sturdy six-feet and 180 pounds, and Flores is six-foot-one and 170 pounds.

In other minor league news, the Royals hired former Tigers and Rangers infielder Jody Reed to manage their Arizona Rookie League squad. The 55-year old Reed has been a manager in the Tigers and Yankees systems in the past, and has been a minor league defensive coordinator for the Yankees as well. It leaves only the Idaho Falls opening yet to be filled.

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ROSTER | STANDINGS | STATISTICS | MINOR LEAGUES

ROYALS TRADE YOUNG TO L.A.
Dodgers pick up portion of Arruebarrena's contract
By artoodeetoo, royalsbaseball.com
01/06/2018

Chris Young is no longer a Royal, as he's been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for infielder Erisbel Arruebarrena. The Dodgers will pick up a quarter of his $5M 2018 salary as part of the deal, which will clear a total of $4.25M in payroll for Kansas City. Young was scheduled to make $8M in Kansas City, and had just signed a $1.25M extension for 2019 back in August.

It's a surprising (and controversial) move, because Arruebarrena has not only been involved, but has been an instigator in several brawls throughout his time in the Dodgers' system. In fact, he was suspended by the Dodgers for the first 10 games of the 2016 season due to a fight in Spring Training with teammates. Just a few weeks later while playing for Oklahoma City, their Triple-A affiliate, he was the centerpoint of another brawl that brought him another ten-game suspension.

However, the Royals will get some much-needed breathing room in their budget, and this also indicates that they may not be done. Even though they're not in the running for Jae-sung Pak anymore, they've been linked to former Pirates closer Tony Watson, and former Nationals righty Drew Storen to shore up the back end of the bullpen.

At six-feet and 230 pounds, he's not a typical-looking shortstop, but he's well-known for having a solid glove, and could push Zack Cozart for the starting shortstop role. However, this move is risky due to Arruebarrena's transgressions in the past.

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2018 HALL OF FAME CLASS DECIDED
Thome, Chipper go first-ballot

MLB NewsWire
01/17/2018

The Hall of Fame has grown by three, as voters have enshrined Jim Thome, Chipper Jones, and Trevor Hoffman into Cooperstown. None of the three left much doubt, as they all made it in with at least 78% of the vote.

Jones and Thome are first-ballot inductees, while Hoffman made it in on his third try with 80.2%. Jones made it on 87%, and Thome on 78.3%. Vladimir Guerrero fell short with 68.6% of the vote on his first try, and he was the only other candidate that was within 10% of the 75% threshold for induction.

Thome will go in as a Cleveland Indian, the team that drafted him and where he spent the bulk of the prime of his career. Hoffman will go in as a San Diego Padre, while Chipper Jones will go in as a Brave, where he spent his entire 20-year career.

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IWAKUMA HEADS BACK TO SEATTLE
36-year old righty signs one-year pact

MLB NewsWire
01/24/2018

Free agent righty Hisashi Iwakuma is headed back to Seattle, per reports from Ken Rosenthal of MLB.com, and CBS Sports' Jon Heyman. His contract is just for one year, but he'll make $9.6M with an innings pitched incentive that will push that figure to $10.06M if he reaches 180 innings.

He had an injury-plagued 2017 season in which he made just seven starts, posting a career-worst 5.20 ERA. However, he did only walk three batters in 36 1/3 innings, and allowed just four homeruns in his seven starts.

Seattle was rumored to be in the running for righties Yu Darvish, Marco Estrada, and Michael Pineda before signing Iwakuma. The latter of the previous three they considered too injury-prone, but the former two are rumored to be in the $16-to-$20M range. Pineda ended up signing with Baltimore on a two-year deal, and Estrada signed with the Cubs for two years. Darvish remains unsigned to this point.

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ROSTER | STANDINGS | STATISTICS | MINOR LEAGUES

ROYALS REUNITE WITH HOLLAND
Deal includes player opt-out for 2020
By artoodeetoo, royalsbaseball.com
01/28/2018

At least one former Royal will be back with the club for 2018, as former closer Greg Holland will re-unite with the Royals on a three-year deal that was announced earlier this morning on Twitter with a 'Welcome Back, Holland!' tagline, accompanied with the theme song from the 1970's sitcom 'Welcome Back, Kotter'.

Holland signed a three-year deal that could potentially pay out $25.6M in total if all options and incentives are met. He has a $9M player option for 2020, and a $250K bonus for every year he tops 60 IP through the life of the deal, including the option year.

His guaranteed base money is $7.5M this season, while he's scheduled to earn a base of $8.4M in 2019.

After suffering an elbow injury two-thirds of the way through 2015 that dropped his velocity from the upper 90's to the mid 80's, it was discovered he had a ruptured ulnar collaterate ligament (UCL) that would require Tommy John surgery, and he sat out 2016 with the Royals while recovering. He was released, and had a tryout with a half-dozen teams (including the Royals) before getting picked up on a one-year contract with Colorado.

His contract with the Rockies included a $10M team option for 2018 that they declined to exercise, even after a career-high eighty-three appearances and ninety-eight strikeouts in only 77 1/3 innings. He also took over the closer's job from Adam Ottavino after the All-Star break, notching 11-of-12 save opportunities down the stretch as the Rockies were a fringe competitor in the playoff race.

However, he entered free agency in a bull market for closers, with former teammate Wade Davis and Craig Kimbrel as the headliners. He was also in competition with other very good closers, such as Drew Storen, Jeanmar Gomez, Tony Watson, and Brandon Kintzler. Kintzler and Gomez signed with Chicago before the end of 2017, but the Royals were also linked to Watson and Storen before signing Holland. Watson and Storen, along with Davis, remain free agents.

Initially, while the Royals showed interest early in free agency, the Holland camp was not as receptive as they decided to wait out the market, so they backed off. Colorado and Holland's camp briefly considered a return to the Rockies several weeks ago before Korean right-hander Jae-sung Pak agreed to a three-year, $7.56M deal, taking that off the table. That's when the Royals came back in, and the interest was now mutual.

The trade of Chris Young to the Dodgers cleared $4.25M in budget space, which made the deal possible. The team options of outfielder Brandon Moss and lefty Travis Wood are after this season; and they are likely to be declined, which are more good reasons this deal makes sense.

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DAVIS, CARDINALS REACH RECORD AGREEMENT
Three-year deal fully guaranteed

MLB NewsWire
02/15/2018

The Cardinals made headlines earlier this morning when they announced the signing of All-Star closer Wade Davis to a three years and a whopping $63.6M; setting a new salary record for closers, beating Aroldis Chapman's AAV of $15M per year over five years when he signed with the Yankees prior to last season.

Davis, 32, led all major league relievers in ERA with a microscopic 0.49 mark, and a perfect 35-of-35 in save opportunities (54 total games) with the Cubs before going on the disabled list in late August with an oblique strain, missing the remainder of the season.

Fully recovered from that injury, Davis also had interest from the Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, and Phillies before the Cardinals came in late after waiving incumbent closer Seung-hwan Oh, now with Milwaukee. Oh was 43-of-49 in save opportunities; and his forty-three saves were a league-best, but five of his six blown saves were in the last six weeks of the season, which played a big role in costing the Cardinals a playoff spot.

This signing comes on the heels of the Cubs signing Yu Darvish to a two-year, $41M contract yesterday, as the last major free agent starting pitcher left on the market.

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Offseason is over. Going to start previews soon.