KC Royals: 3 relievers who may not survive the week

Three KC Royals bullpen hopefuls may not last the final week of spring training.

When the sun sets on the KC Royals’ Arizona spring training base tonight, little more than a week will remain before the club heads north for Opening Day. It’s a time for veterans to settle into daily routines for the grind to come, and for most non-roster invitees to savor their final days of big league atmosphere before heading to the Northwest Arkansas alternate training site or minor league camp.

Others still hoping to land one of the few remaining roster spots toil away. For them, every pitch, every at-bat, every defensive chance mean more than they have all spring. Everything is on the line.

For the Royals as a team, however, not much remains to be determined. Most everyday lineup and reserve spots are all but decided. Filling Kris Bubic’s rotation spot (he was sent out Thursday in a not-so-surprising move) isn’t imperative because the club won’t need a fifth starter until mid-April.

The bullpen, though, is overstocked, and with Wade Davis now almost certain to make the team, some relievers must go. For different reasons, three who’ve pitched more than most this spring may head the list.

Jake Brentz comes to mind, not because he’s pitched badly, but because he still needs some control work. Through Friday, Brentz’s seven Cactus League appearances tied him for the club high; he’d surrendered two runs and six hits in 5.2 innings, and struck out seven. His four walks, though, are too many, especially considering control has been his nemesis his entire minor league career. A superior fastball (he can hit 100 mph) and high strikeout rate (9.7 SO9) hasn’t much mitigated his career 6.5 BB9.

Brentz, then, a pitcher the KC Royals clearly like (he was a member of last season’s Player Pool), may find himself at the alternate site, or minor league camp, instead of Kansas City on Opening Day.

Who else might be moved?

A southpaw who just can’t seem to stick with the KC Royals may get cut again.

The days when having a lefthander in the bullpen was mandatory are all but over. The controversial “three-batter rule,” instituted for the first time last season, is seeing to that. Lefties are nice, but not absolutely necessary, bullpen assets to have, even for the KC Royals.

So it is that Richard Lovelady, an eminently successful lefty minor league reliever—he’s 10-8 with a 2.17 ERA and 32 saves in 133 games—may find Kansas City not so great a fit again this year. After struggling as a rookie in 2019 (he was 0-3. 7.65 in 25 appearances scattered over three trips to Kansas City from Triple-A Omaha), he pitched one inning for the Royals last season before spending most of the campaign at the alternate site.

Now, Lovelady, 25 and a five-year professional, is having a good spring. He’s tied for most appearances on the club with seven, and has seven strikeouts in six innings to complement an excellent 0.83 WHIP. His 3.00 ERA is attributable solely to the three runs (two earned) he gave the White Sox Thursday.

Whether he’ll survive roster reduction, though, is questionable, which seems to be the nature of the Lovelady-Royals beast. He had a good 2020 training camp that went for naught after one regular season inning in which he surrendered a hit and a run; the feeling there’s something neither side is saying, or the club won’t for some reason give him a solid chance, is easy to get. So, don’t be surprised if Kansas City sends Lovelady out, with the alternate training site the likely destination.

Could someone else be moved? Possibly. Ervin Santana’s inconsistency, which seems to plague him from inning to inning, may be his downfall. Opponents have knocked the former Royal around for seven runs in nine innings, but he’s had good control and a few excellent innings. The Royals like veteran pitchers who have a history with the club, so they might choose Santana over Lovelady, at least in the short run. And at some point, Lovelady will probably resurface in Kansas City.

Final roster cuts are coming and the KC Royals will have to reduce the size of their bullpen. Jake Brentz, Brad Brach and Richard Lovelady may be moved.