KC Royals News: Hall of Fame, spring training, new signings

Some KC Royals news and musings while wondering when some fans will stop calling the MLB lockout a “strike”:

A formidable former opponent of the KC Royals is now a Hall of Famer.

David Ortiz, a 20-year major league veteran with superb credentials, has been elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame. The only player to receive enough votes in balloting results announced Tuesday, Ortiz will be officially inducted in ceremonies currently scheduled for July 24.

Ortiz routinely punished his opponents at the plate, and the Royals were no exception. In 127 career games against Kansas City, he clubbed 21 homers, drove in 84 runs and slashed .274/.359/.477. He finished his career in 2016 by hitting .315 and leading the majors in doubles (48), slugging (.620) and OPS (1.021) and tying for the American League in RBIs (127). His career .286/.380/.552 line and 541 homers help explain why Ortiz made it into the Hall in his first year of eligibility.

MLB lockout or no lockout, it seems spring training will go on as scheduled.

Major league owners and players met Monday and Tuesday to continue negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. The owners suggested they might be prepared to miss regular season games; whether that’s a serious position or a mere bargaining ploy remains to be seen.

What appears clear, however, is that baseball is gearing up for spring training to be, sans big league players, business as usual:

And the Royals have been selling spring training tickets since early January:

So, expect spring camps to open on time and teams to field minor leaguers for exhibition contests…unless, of course, the union and owners hammer out an agreement in time for big league players to report to spring camps on time.

The KC Royals have been quite active on the international free agent market.

The MLB lockout froze the free agent and trade markets but like all other clubs, Kansas City isn’t prohibited from signing minor league and international free agents. And they’ve been busy in the latter context lately.

Reported last week were the impending signings of international free agents Juan Olmos, Henry Ramos and Erick Torres—those deals are now official, and Kansas City has also announced the signings of 25 others:

This sizeable group will be worth watching.

Even with a lockout and transaction freeze, there’s still Royals news. And we’ll bring it to you when it happens.