KC Royals Free Agent Hunt: Help from the Halos?

The KC Royals have been candid about their offseason free agent spending plans.

Unless they re-sign Zack Greinke for more than the $13 million he made last season, possibly the only way he returns considering the club’s public pronouncements that they want him back and the strong market for starting pitchers, they won’t be writing any big checks. And more proof of that approach came Tuesday evening when the Royals picked up Tampa Bay free agent lefty Ryan Yarbrough for a reported $3 million base.

So don’t be surprised if the club might have been considering affordable Angels righthander Michael Lorenzen, an eight-year big league veteran who’s started and relieved, but is best thought of as a starter. Lorenzen pitched decently for the Halos last season, going 8-6 with a 4.24 ERA in 18 starts, a performance for which Los Angeles had to pay only $6.75 million, an amount only a bit more than half of what KC paid Greinke.

But any designs Kansas City had on Lorenzen apparently fell by the wayside Wednesday night. According to reports, including FanSided MLB Insider Robert Murray’s, Lorenzen and the Tigers are getting together:

If the Royals were in on Lorenzen and lost out, his joining AL Central rival Detroit will increase the sting.

Should Kansas City consider any other LA free agents?

Touki Toussaint is on the market, but the KC Royals probably can’t use him.

Touki Toussaint is only 26, but already has five big league seasons behind him—he went 3-3, 4.50 for 2021 World Series champ Atlanta and is 10-7, 5.34 in four years with the Braves and one with the Angels.

LA, however, DFA’d him not long before the deadline for clubs to set 40-man rosters for Rule 5 Draft reasons, and he’s now a free agent. The Royals could take a look at him but shouldn’t: as his career 5.50 BB/9 suggests, control is a problem for the righthander and Kansas City already has enough hurlers who struggle to throw strikes.

What about three other Angel free agents?

Could a righty with eight years in the majors help the KC Royals’ bullpen?

Archie Bradley had seven big league seasons in the book when he signed a free agent deal with the Angels last March. They were seven serviceable campaigns—Bradley was 30-28 with a 3.89 ERA when he arrived in LA to begin the lockout-delayed season, and had appeared in 21 games when he and his teammates engaged in a June 27 on-field tussle with the Mariners.

Unfortunately, Bradley broke his elbow during the melee and missed the rest of the major league season. He pitched twice on a brief minor league rehab assignment and was 2-0, 2.70 when LA reactivated him. But a forearm strain forced him back to the Injured List before he saw action.

Should Kansas City take a risk on a reliever whose most recent moment in a big league game was ugly and resulted in a fractured elbow?

Perhaps. Bradley isn’t a bad pitcher. He doesn’t strike out a lot of batters but has fair control and, his broken elbow notwithstanding, durability—he pitched 63 games for Arizona in 2017, 76 for the Diamondbacks in 2018, and another 66 in 2019. He also threw 53 times for the Phillies two seasons ago.

So if the Royals want to supplement their bullpen with an experienced righthander, Bradley could be their man.