Kansas City Royals News: Noel Arguelles Released

Back when the Kansas City Royals signed Noel Arguelles was signed to a five year, $7 Million contract in 2010, it was a surprise. The Royals were not a team that typically dipped their toes into the foreign markets, so Arguelles was quite the different player than what they usually targeted. However, as a lefty with a fastball that sat in the mid-90s, and at only 19 years of age, Arguelles seemed destined to be an important part of the Royals future.

Instead, Arguelles turned out to be one of the high profile pitching prospects that all got injured at roughly the same time. However, unlike Mike Montgomery, John Lamb and the others, Arguelles never threw a pitch in the Royals system before being injured. He had shoulder surgery after signing, delaying his debut until the 2011 season.

Noel Arguelles had a solid debut in 2011, posting a 3.20 ERA and a 1.125 WHiP, striking out 64 batters against 24 walks. However, that was the only time that Arguelles had a strikeout to walk rate greater than 1:1 in his career. He struggled from that point onward, fighting his control, and while he had moments where it looked like he may be putting everything together, he just could not recapture that form from the 2011 season.

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Yesterday, Arguelles’ saga with the Kansas City Royals ended. After initially being brought back into the fold as a minor league free agent following last season, Arguelles was released by the Royals. With a career 13-37 record to go along with a 5.59 ERA and a 1.642 WHiP, it is certainly not surprising that the Royals would consider it time to walk away.

Seeing the impact that quite a few Cuban players have had across baseball lately, with players like Aroldis Chapman, Jose Abreu and Yasiel Puig turning into legitimate stars, it is truly unfortunate that Noel Arguelles could not remain healthy. While it would seem unlikely that he would turn into such a game changing player, he still could have been a nice piece on the Royals pitching staff.

Perhaps, at some point, Noel Arguelles will get another chance in another team’s system. Maybe he will be able to get back to being, to some degree, something resembling the pitcher he was expected to be. Hopefully, while his time with the Royals is over, Arguelles will have another chapter in his tale.

Next: Andy Ferguson's Quietly Excellent 2014 Season