KC Royals: Making the case, Phillies free agents

The KC Royals, hopefully looking for an outfielder with proven power and a backup catching upgrade, could find help among Philadelphia’s free agents.

The 2020 Philadelphia Phillies proved for the second straight season that having one of the game’s best players doesn’t guarantee championships. The Phils, a team that hasn’t seen the postseason since 2011, obtained Bryce Harper via free agency two years ago but, like the Angels with Mike Trout, reaffirmed that one player does not a champion make. Philadelphia finished fourth in the National League East in Harper’s first season and third in 2020.

Now, two seasons after bringing Harper aboard, Philadelphia is a team in major flux. Dave Dombrowski, the successful but controversial architect of past World Series champions in Miami and Boston, took over the club’s baseball operations last week with the ominous clouds of free agency hanging overhead.

The Phillies have a daunting 18 free agents; hiring Dombrowski means the club must be willing to take the kind of risks and spend the kind of money Dombrowski likes to take and spend. The Phillies will need to do both if the more significant players among those18 free agents choose to leave for more certain environs.

The KC Royals, a club also in transition, could be looking at one or more of those many free agents. The top two, however, will cost more than the Royals are probably willing to pay; even if they were less expensive, they’d be unlikely candidates to join Kansas City. Shortstop Didi Gregorius and catcher J.T. Realmuto are among the most coveted players still on the developing market and will be expensive, but Kansas City already has Adalberto Mondesi at short and the team isn’t about to displace Salvador Perez behind the plate.

There may be others, however, that might be worth a Royal look. Let’s check in on them.

The KC Royals could find what they need, and maybe an extra starting pitcher, in a trio of Philly free agents.

Unlike its approach to recent offseasons, Kansas City has hit the free agent market early and effectively so far—the re-signing of 2020 closer Greg Holland Monday followed the impressive additions of starter Mike Minor, outfielder Michael A. Taylor and first baseman Carlos Santana. But the club still lacks an outfielder with power, and a backup catcher upgrade wouldn’t hurt.

Veteran Jay Bruce is primarily a right fielder, but can play left, center and first base. He has power: he hit 26 home runs in 2019, and has slammed 318 in 13 seasons, including at least 30 five times and at least 20 seven more. The Royals could also use another lefthanded bat, which Bruce can also provide.

But he hit .198 in 32 games in 2020, just .216 in 2019, and hasn’t been above .260 since 2016. His OBP has also declined considerably (.261 in 2019 and .252 last season), and he’s an average defender at best. Power alone won’t make it in the KC outfield and Bruce’s age—he’ll be 34 in April–weighs against him joining the Royals’ younger, speedier outfield.

Two-time All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy played only one game for the Red Sox in 2020 before they released him and he caught on with the Phillies. Although he didn’t see action in Philly, his career .274/.335/.416 slash suggests he could give the Royals an offensive boost on Salvador Perez’s days off. But a .232 average in 2019 and .241 last season signal some decline at the plate as he enters his 12th, and age-35, season in 2021. The Royals aren’t in such urgent need of an offensive upgrade to Cam Gallagher or Meibrys Viloria that they have to sign Lucroy.

What about another starter? KC seems set with Minor, Danny Duffy, Brad Keller, Brady Singer and Kris Bubic, but could add another potential rotation piece in case Duffy becomes a trade deadline piece, or Singer or Bubic show their 2020 short season performances didn’t reflect their true readiness for big league hitters. Jake Arrieta is among Philadelphia’s free agents, but hasn’t been the pitcher the Phils lured away from the Cubs with a three-year $75 million free agent deal after the 2017 campaign. He was 68-31 for Chicago but 22-23 for Philly.

The Royals would do well to shy away from Arrieta and the price he’d want to come to Kansas City.

There are plenty of relievers among the Philadelphia free agents for the KC Royals to consider…but do they need any more bullpen pieces?

With the return of Greg Holland for 2021, and the improvement it made in 2020, the Royals’ bullpen doesn’t require much attention. And even if the pen were a problem, there isn’t much to choose from among the Phillies’ free agents.

That’s especially true when it comes to lefthanders, which are in short supply in Kansas City. Veteran southpaw Francisco Liriano has started most of his 14-year career, but relieved almost exclusively in 2017 and ’19 and went 5-3 with a 3.47 ERA in 69 games for the Pirates in 2019. He didn’t pitch in 2020—he opted out after the Phillies released him in mid-July.

Liriano, who missed the 2007 campaign after Tommy John surgery, no-hit the White Sox as a Twin in 2011, and went 46-39 in five years for the Pirates.  At 37, though, he isn’t a great fit for an increasingly young Kansas City club.

While excessive losses aren’t good for any pitcher, they’re especially bad for relievers. And its excessive losses that separate Liriano from Jose Alvarez and Adam Morgan, the other Philadelphia bullpen lefthanders. Alvarez is 15-22 over eight years and Morgan is 13-27 in six. His 4.84 career ERA is also a red flag.

Righthanders might be a different story. Twelve-year big league veteran David Robertson is the best of the group with a 53-33, 2.90 record and has a career 11.9 SO9, but he’ll be 36 in 2021. Bud Norris started for the first six of his 10 seasons and has 47 saves, and the fact he pitched in St. Louis for KC manager Mike Matheny makes him an intriguing possibility to rejoin his former skipper. But he hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2018, and pitched only two innings for the then independent Sugar Land Skeeters in 2020.

Robertson could be a nice one-year supplement to the Royal pen, but two seasons away from the major leagues and his almost complete lack of action last season render Norris too risky.

And if the KC Royals want to stick primarily with relative youth in the bullpen, most of the rest of the righties won’t do. Tommy Hunter, who’s had a good career with six different teams, is 35; Blake Parker and Anthony Swarzak turn 36 in next season; and David Phelps is 34.

And although Brandon Workman is a serviceable 25-20 with 25 saves in six seasons and Heath Hembree is 16-5 in eight, adding more righties to a bullpen already teeming with them shouldn’t be a Kansas City priority.