KC Royals: 5 sensible 40-man roster cuts for today

The continuing failure of players and clubs to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement is making a lockout and transaction freeze all but sure things. The current Basic Agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 1, and without a new deal in place by then the owners will almost certainly lock the players out and declare trades and free agent signings off limits. The KC Royals will, of course, be subject to both.

But for now, the business of baseball must go on, including meeting the deadline that drops late today—all teams must finalize their 40-man rosters for Rule 5 draft purposes by 6 p.m. ET.

That draft, traditionally conducted the last day of the game’s Winter Meetings, which are tentatively scheduled for Dec. 5-9, subjects non 40-man roster players to being drafted by other teams if they signed at 18 or younger and have five years in the pros, or signed at 19 or older and have been pros for four years. Drafting clubs pay $100,000 to teams losing players and, with certain exceptions, must keep draftees on their major league rosters all next season; if they don’t, they risk losing them on waivers or to their original clubs.

As of late Thursday night, the Royals’ 40-man roster had four openings. Conspicuously absent were five hot prospects—first baseman Nick Pratto, catcher MJ Melendez, and pitchers Austin Cox, Zach Haake and Jonathan Bowlan—who’ll be exposed to the draft, and undoubtedly taken, if not added to the 40-man today.

Count on Kansas City adding them. And for good measure, the club might do well to also protect infielder Maikel Garcia and outfielders Seuly Matias, Brewer Hicklen and Dairon Blanco. But to make room for those nine players on the 40-man roster, the Royals must cut five from it.

Who should they be? Here are five possibilities—they aren’t the only options, but they make sense.

A lefthanded reliever is the most obvious choice for the KC Royals to move.

The first decision should be easy for Kansas City, and carries little risk. The club can move Richard Lovelady, most likely by non-tendering him, and feel safe—the southpaw reliever, who pitched well in 2021 (2-0, 3.48 ERA, and 23 strikeouts in 20.2 innings), had Tommy John surgery in September and will miss most, if not all, of next season.

That makes Lovelady an unlikely draft target and, if KC clears a roster spot by not offering him a contract and no one drafts him, it can re-sign him as soon as the Rule 5 ends.

It’s hard to part with good players, but that’s what the KC Royals might do.

There’s much to like about Emmanuel Rivera, who this season received his first major league chance via a late June call-up from Omaha. He can hit, has some power, and his glove is adequate. He hit the first big league pitch he saw, a Garrett Richards fastball, for a single, and went 2-for-4 in his first game.

Unfortunately, Rivera suffered a hamate fracture the next day, didn’t return until early August, and hit .247 before the Royals sent him back to Triple-A for the rest of the season. He finished with 19 homers and slashed .286/.348/.592 across his two stints with the Storm Chasers.

Rivera, though, is behind too many Royal infielders. Primarily a third baseman, he won’t beat out Bobby Witt Jr. at the hot corner, nor will he displace Nicky Lopez or Whit Merrifield if KC takes looks at him at shortstop or second. And with Adalberto Mondesi bound to move around the infield and DH next season, there isn’t much room for Rivera as a backup.

Lucius Fox is in the same squeeze as Rivera—he’s good (MLB Pipeline ranks him No. 30 among the organization’s top prospects)—but too many KC infielders are better. Versatile, he’s played shortstop, second, third and center field in the minors, and he’s averaged almost 30 stolen bases over his five-season minor league career. But he’s hitting only .242.

Although Fox has the potential to improve at the plate, the talent in front of him—Witt Jr., Lopez, Merrifield and Mondesi—means he’ll have trouble getting to Kansas City, and staying there if he does.

So it is that, despite their obvious talent, it may make sense for the KC Royals to move Rivera and Fox today to clear roster space. Perhaps the club can swing trades before the day is out, but more cuts would be required if the return involved Rule 5-eligible players. Non-eligible prospects would be better and more logical.

At the end of the day, though, the Royals need to move five players off their 40-man if they’re going to protect Pratto, Melendez, Cox, Haake, Bowlan, Garcia, Matias, Hicklen and Blanco. Dropping Lovelady, O’Hearn, Olivares, Rivera and Fox won’t be painless.

And the pain will only increase if the club decides to protect even more players.

The KC Royals need to make some roster moves. We’ll find out soon what they are.