Ranking potential closer options for Kansas City Royals

For the first time in a long time, the Kansas City Royals have a question mark at the closer role. Here’s a look at several of the possible options.

Sadly, the days of the Kansas City Royals having a shutdown bullpen seem to be behind us. The relief corps struggled through overuse, injury and ineffectiveness during the 2017 season. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any capable arms in the Royals bullpen. In fact, the club has several potential candidates who are well suited to take over as closer for 2018.

It doesn’t make sense for the team to spend money on any big-name relievers on the free agent market. It is also unlikely Dayton Moore would pull the trigger on a trade to bring in a big arm given the state of the farm system and the team as a whole. Because of this, only “internal” options will be looked at in this article — although, we’re being a little liberal with that term.

While some players mentioned are more realistic choices than others, all could realistically be in the 2018 bullpen as positive contributors at the same time. Depending on which direction the front office takes and how effective their teammates are, each one could be in the ninth inning mix. We’ll rank the top five candidates from least likely to most likely. But let’s start with a wild card candidate.

Wild Card: Luke Hochevar

A dark horse in this race could be old friend Luke Hochevar. He is technically not an internal candidate, having spent the last year recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. Due to that surgery he could be had for a very cheap price. A reunion between player and team makes a ton of sense as Moore looks to improve the bullpen.

Hochevar had a mostly disappointing run as a starting pitcher after being taken first overall in the 2006 draft. After a move to the bullpen in 2013, he reinvented himself as so many Kansas City Royals have done. Hochevar was a stud in 2013 before needing Tommy John surgery in the spring of 2014. He returned the next year to be an effective fireman for the team and was the winning pitcher in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series.

Admittedly, Hochevar has no shot to be the closer out of spring training if the team does sign him. After two major operations in the past several years, he would need to prove he has recovered from his surgery first. There is also no doubt that there will be a few others ahead of him on the depth chart. If he manages to return to form and one or two others stumble, he could be the man by season’s end.

No. 5 Brandon Maurer

It’s obvious Brandon Maurer has the stuff to be a closer. There’s a reason he held that role on a San Diego Padres team that also employed Brad Hand. The problem is, he has yet to learn how to turn that talent into results.

Maurer managed to nail down 20 saves for the Padres with a 3.23 FIP and 1.19 WHIP before being traded to the Kansas City Royals in July along with fellow pitchers Ryan Buchter and Trevor Cahill. From that point on, both numbers basically doubled to a grisly 5.31 and 2.25 respectively. He simply couldn’t get anyone out. A HR/9 of nearly 2.0 didn’t help matters.

So will Maurer be in charge of the ninth inning in 2018? Probably not. His career FIP of 3.91 is much better than his career 5.14 ERA, suggesting his overall performance has been better than his results. Plus, Ned Yost does seem to have some faith in him, giving him a handful of save opportunities before Maurer made it obvious that it wasn’t a great idea. With that said, if a couple of names on this list are not a part of the team next year and he has a strong spring, it could happen.

No. 4 Mike Minor

The most recent starter to be reborn out of the Kansas City Royals bullpen is Mike Minor. He just became a free agent after turning down his player option, but Kansas City is interested in bringing him back. Minor will probably not be overly expensive. And if the team decides not to blow everything up, he could return.

In his relief debut with the Royals, there was a lot to like about Minor. His 2.55 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 0.6 HR/9 and 10.2 K/9 are all fantastic. He was arguably the most consistent pitcher in the Royals bullpen and ended the year as closer for good reason. Minor was dominant against left-handed hitters but also managed to hold righties to a .223./.281/.383 line. This proves that he can get hitters out from both sides of the plate, which is a necessity for a closer.

If Minor is re-signed by the Kansas City Royals, there is no doubt that he will open the year as closer. Whether he comes back or not depends on a couple of factors. The relief pitching market would have to develop in a way that would make him affordable for the Royals’ plans. Plus, those plans would have to involve avoiding a massive rebuild that would make an effective closer an afterthought. If both of those boxes are checked, the ninth inning will belong to him in 2018.

No. 3 Scott Alexander

In his first full season in the big leagues, Scott Alexander was flat-out nasty. The sinker-baller forced opposing batters to pound balls into the ground with ease. Alexander managed to induce ground balls 73.8 percent of the time. He threw his sinker 91.9 percent of the time. To have the success that he did while basically telegraphing his pitches is astonishing.

It seemed at times as though he was pitching practically every night. As the season wore on, his appearances came in increasingly critical points of the game. Alexander never let it faze him and got the job done almost every single time.

While there are a few question marks about Alexander being the closer next year, he seems to have answered most of them. Although he is inexperienced, he came up huge in some clutch spots for the Royals this past year. He showed he won’t wilt under pressure. Like Minor, he is a lefty, but his splits were almost identical for righties and lefties last year.

And while regression seems likely, his career groundball percent and K/9 were fairly in line with what he did this past season. The only thing in his way would be more expensive teammates being given the first shot at the job.

No. 2 Joakim Soria

Entering the final year of his three-year, $25 million contract, Joakim Soria has failed to live up to expectations, so far. He had a disastrous first year back with the team in 2016 with seven blown saves and eight losses. It was a far cry from the Jack that carved through hitters during his first run in Kansas City from 2007-11.

Soria bounced back somewhat in 2017. He still wasn’t particularly effective in the clutch. This could be attributed to poor luck or poor performance depending on who you ask. In his defense, Soria’s 2.23 FIP, 1.23 WHIP and 10.3 K/9 were all very solid. These numbers are actually comparable to what Minor accomplished last year. The difference is that Minor got the outs that he needed to get, while Soria didn’t.

Even after two less-than-stellar seasons, Soria is the most likely candidate to get saves if the Kansas City Royals decide to rebuild. His contract ensures he won’t be moved and will also serve as reason to put him in the closer’s role to try to get whatever value they can. If the team commits to being a little more competitive, a good spring may put him back in the setup role he had for most of last season. He would be one of the first in line if the anointed closer falters.