Some good, some bad for 5 former KC Royals

They come and go, these players the KC Royals acquire to ply their trade in Kansas City. Those who play well and fit the club's conservative budget can enjoy long stays while others, because they can't cut it in the majors, or can but want more money than the Royals will pay, leave.

Some who depart find more success with other clubs than they did with the Royals; others don't, and disappear into the minors, or simply leave the game altogether.

How are five familiar ex-Royals faring this season? Let's find out.

A former KC Royals star might be watching his career come to an end

It's been exactly a month since the Chicago Cubs, the third team for whom Eric Hosmer has played since he left Kansas City for free agency after the 2017 season, designated him for assignment, and 25 days since the Cubs released him after he cleared waivers. And despite his four Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger, and an All-Star Game appearance, it's looking more and more like Hosmer's 13-season big league career might be over.

No one has signed him, which is a bit strange because he's such a low-risk proposition. The Padres remain on the hook for the remaining bulk of the eight-year, $144 million deal he signed with them before the 2018 season, so any team signing him is obligated to pay Hosmer only a prorated share of the major league minimum salary, meaning he'll come cheap. Philadelphia was a rumored potential destination for Hosmer, but nothing has panned out on that, or any other, front.

Moving on to a pair of sluggers...

Injuries are affecting a pair of ex-KC Royals pitchers this season

Although he'd pitched only 46 times in parts of three seasons with the Royals, this year's Opening Day cash-for-player deal with Atlanta that ended Richard Lovelady's Kansas City career felt surprising. Especially for a pitcher around 18 months removed from Tommy John Surgery, he'd looked good in spring training with eight scoreless innings,10 strikeouts, and no walks in eight appearances. That effort followed the four-inning, nine-strikeout rehab assignment he had late last season.

And he was 2-0 with a 3.48 ERA and a save in 20 games before the 2021 injury that led to his TJS.

But for whatever reason, the Royals sent him to the Braves, who soon lost him to Oakland on a waiver claim. Lovelady became a bullpen workhorse for the A's by pitching in 24 games with a 3.86 ERA (104 ERA+) and 20 strikeouts in 21 innings.

That 24th appearance, though, could be his last for quite a while. This happened June 15 with Lovelady striving to keep Oakland's game against the Rays tied in the seventh inning:

The A's put the lefthander on the 15-day IL Friday with a left elbow strain. When he pitches again remains to be seen.

Recent news looks better for Danny Duffy, the former KC starter who was having an excellent 2021 season when he went down with the second of two left flexor injuries he suffered that year. Despite his presence on the IL, the Dodgers wanted him at the trade deadline and sent cash and a player to be named later (Zach Willeman) to get him.

He hasn't appeared in the majors since but, in a late-season minor league rehab assignment last year, struck out 11 in 6.2 innings; the three runs he gave up in two-thirds of an inning Sept. 6 inflated his ERA to 5.40.

Now, he's with Texas and working his way back at the Rangers' Frisco Double-A affiliate, where he's 1-1 with a 6.35 ERA in five relief appearances. But the high ERA is deceiving—three of the four runs he's surrendered came in his first outing, and he's held opponents scoreless three times. Expect the Rangers to give him a big league chance later this season.