Late season luck turns bad for 4 former KC Royals

Editor’s Note: After this story was published, the Orioles announced they have claimed Cam Gallagher and assigned him to Triple-A.

The 2022 regular major league season, delayed by a lockout that didn’t end until well after spring training was originally supposed to start, is grinding toward an Oct. 5 end. Some teams will soon secure postseason berths, but the KC Royals won’t win one; 56-84 after losing to Detroit Saturday, they’re stuck with a sixth consecutive losing campaign.

The Royals play on, hoping to find better luck in their final 22 games than they had in the previous 140.

The late season fortunes of four former Royals, however, have turned so bad that none may see action again this year.

Who are they, and what’s happened to them?

The KC Royals traded this catcher in July. Now he’s in baseball limbo.

For parts of six seasons, Cam Gallagher took a back seat to one of the best catchers in the game. Despite never being good enough to displace Salvador Perez, he became his capable and respected backup.

But the Royals’ catching picture changed this season—bringing MJ Melendez up in May gave the club the dual luxury of a better hitting alternative when Perez doesn’t catch and a serviceable outfielder when he does. That made Gallagher suddenly expendable, and the club dealt him to San Diego for outfielder Brent Rooker just before the August trade deadline passed.

Unfortunately for Gallagher, things with the Padres aren’t what they were with the Royals. Assigned immediately to Triple-A El Paso, Gallagher hasn’t seen San Diego and probably won’t. The Padres DFA’d him Friday to make room on their 40-man roster for outfielder Luis Liberato.

Gallagher isn’t the only ex-Royal suffering late season disappointment.

Former KC Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer could be done for the year.

Like Mike Moustakas, but to a lesser statistical and less painful extent, Eric Hosmer hasn’t quite measured up to a lucrative free agent contract. San Diego certainly expected more from the popular All-Star first baseman who won three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger with Kansas City, but he hit only 69 homers and batted .265 in 4.5 Padre seasons before the club shipped him to Boston at this summer’s trade deadline.

The Red Sox were still arguably in the Wild Card hunt when they made the deal with hopes he’d bolster their postseason chances. They’ll probably watch the playoffs from home, but the Sox have won more games than they’ve lost with Hosmer in the lineup.

Therein, though, lies the rub. Hosmer joined the Sox Aug. 4 but a back issue has limited him to 12 games. He’s hasn’t played since Aug. 20.

And like Moustakas, he’s on the Injury List; unlike Moose, he has a chance to play again before the season ends Oct. 5.

How great a chance? Perhaps not much. The latest injury update posted to the club’s website doesn’t seem optimistic.

Hosmer, slashing a combined .267/.333/.381 with eight homers between the Padres and Red Sox (he hasn’t homered and is hitting .225 for Boston) can opt out of his $144 million mega-deal when the season ends.

The luck of another former KC Royals player has been pretty bad this year.

Three years ago this December and seeking the kind of repair work Kansas City so often offers broken pitchers, former St. Louis star reliever Trevor Rosenthal signed a minor league contract with the Royals. The deal reunited him with KC manager Mike Matheny, the Cards’ skipper for whom he saved 45 games in 2014 and 48 in 2015.

Despite arriving in Kansas City after three straight subpar seasons and a 2018 campaign lost to a UCL injury, Rosenthal quickly became the club’s closer during the 2020 pandemic-shortened season and led the Royals with seven saves before a trade deadline deal took him to San Diego. He didn’t give up an unearned run and saved four more games for the Padres.

His 1-0, 1.90 ERA season made him such a hot offseason commodity that he secured a one-year, $11 million contract with Oakland.

But he underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery and never pitched for the A’s. The Giants took a chance on Rosenthal by signing him several weeks ago but, with him on the Injured List with a hamstring problem, traded him to Milwaukee just two weeks later.

Now it looks like gambling on Rosenthal’s health may not pay off for the Brewers this season. He’s developed a teres major problem that, per Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writer Curt Hogg, may not allow him to return to the majors this year.

Rosenthal hasn’t thrown a big league pitch since 2020, which makes this latest news even more disheartening.

Four former Royals aren’t having good luck as the season winds down.