Royals Finalize Roster

This weekend the Royals made a flurry of moves to get their major league roster down to 25 players. They designated OF-Shane Costa for assignment and optioned OF-Mitch Maier to Triple-A Omaha. They also reassigned pitchers Brandon Duckworth, Roman Colon and Tim Hamulack to Triple-A Omaha.

Shane Costa (12/12/81) is out of options and his run with the Kansas City Royals is probably at an end. He did all he could this spring hitting .455/.526/.545 in 33 at bats. The fact that he only got 33 at bats this spring despite his performance sums up the chances he had to make the team. In 421 major league at bats Costa hit .254/.289/.366 while hitting .311/.370/.474 in his 1,571 minor league at bats. He was never given a legitimate chance to stick with the major league team and has shown some ability throughout his career. He’s never going to be a starter, but could have a career as a 5th outfielder with a major league team. The fact that he is no longer on the Royals 40 man roster is yet another sign that our Kansas City club is moving in the right direction.

Mitch Maier (6/30/82) had a solid spring training hitting .297/.309/.547 in 64 at bats. The Royals gave him a long look this spring and Maier did not disappoint. If he were out of options like Costa, he probably would have made the team instead of TPJ or Brayan Pena. In Triple-A last season he hit .316/.366/.470 in 345 at bats. He also got 91 at bats with the Royals in 2008 and hit .286/.316/.319. Maier still ranks #23 in Baseball America’s prospect list for the Royals and he still figures in the short term plans for the team. He figures to be a 4th OF in the major leagues and is probably the best defensive CF the Royals have.

Brandon Duckworth (1/23/76) is Triple-A roster filler and potential short-term help to the major league team. He pitched 17.1 innings this spring posting a 4.67 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, and a 1.17 SO/BB ratio. His spring numbers are similar to his 2008 numbers in the majors and minors. For his career, in 511 ML innings he has a 5.28 ERA, 1.526 WHIP, and 1.65 SO/BB ratio. He is 33 years old and what you’ve seen is what you are going to get minus a little of the SO ability he once had. He might not have the stuff that Sidney Ponson has, but he could easily match Sir Sidney’s numbers in the rotation if given the chance.

Roman Colon (8/13/79) pitched 14.0 innings this spring with an ERA of 4.50, 1.64 WHIP, and 3.25 SO/BB ratio. Like Duckworth, Colon is Triple-A roster filler who can pitch as both a starter and a reliever. In 2008 he had an 4.64 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, and 2.30 SO/BB ratio with the Omaha Royals.

Tim Hamulack (11/14/76) pitched 7.1 innings this spring with a 2.45 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, and 9.00 SO/BB ratio. He hasn’t pitched in the ML since 2006 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 36.1 career ML innings he has a 7.43 ERA, 1.817 WHIP, and 1.57 SO/BB. He is a lefty and seems to have figured out how to consistently throw strikes. In the last 2 seasons he has walked 3 batters in 36.0 innings pitched. Lefties who can consistently throw strikes can have great value to a major league team so we may see him in Kansas City’s bullpen at some point during the season.

The opening day roster of the 2009 Kansas City Royals: (Age listed is their opening day age)
Catchers: John Buck (28), Miguel Olivo (30) and Brayan Pena (27)
Infielders: Mike Jacobs (28), Mark Teahen (27), Mike Aviles (28), Alex Gordon (25), Billy Butler (22), Alberto Callaspo (25) and Tony Pena Jr (28)
Outfielders: Jose Guillen (32), Coco Crisp (29), David DeJesus (29) and Willie Bloomquist (31)
Rotation: Gil Meche (30), Zack Greinke (25), Kyle Davies (25) and Horacio Ramirez (29)
Bullpen: Juan Cruz (30), Kyle Farnsworth (32), Ron Mahay (37), Joakim Soria (24), Robinson Tejeda (27), Doug Waechter (28) and Jamey Wright (34)

Sidney Ponson will be added to the major league roster before his first start. When he is added one of the Pena’s will be taken off the roster. It will probably be Brayan, but I will continue to hope that it will be Tony that gets the boot.

As I mentioned above, Maier deserved to make the roster over either Pena. The decision to carry three catchers is truly puzzling since both Olivo and Buck have been relatively healthy in their careers. Both John and Miguel will be battling each other for at bats throughout the season which leaves zero playing time for Brayan.

I have made my feelings for TPJ very clear over the past several weeks so I won’t completely rehash all of that again. That said, the Royals would be a better team offensively and defensively with Maier as the 4th OF and Bloomquist as the backup SS instead of TPJ. If Teahen is going to man 2B on a regular basis then they need another backup OF in addition to Bloomquist anyway since all three of their starters have been subject to injuries over the years.

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