Royals make first bullpen splash by taking chance on former rival closer

The Kansas City Royals' string of smaller offseason moves continued late on Thursday night after the team made their first free agent signing of the winter.

The Royals confirmed that they've signed former Detroit Tigers closer Alex Lange to a one-year contract, which MLB.com's Anne Rogers reported was worth $900K.

Lange was made available on the market earlier this week after the Tigers released him on Tuesday.

This move comes the same day they finalized a one-year deal to avoid arbitration with James McArthur and just over a week after they made a pair of depth trades for both outfielder Kameron Misner and once promising prospect starter Mason Black.

Royals take high upside flier on former division rival Alex Lange

This signing would've been bigger news two seasons ago when Lange anchored the Tigers' bullpen. In 67.0 innings across 66 outings in 2023, the righty threw to a serviceable 3.68 ERA and .181 BAA while converting 26 saves.

And that was off the back of arguably an even better 2022 campaign where Lange really broke onto the scene with a 3.41 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and .200 BAA.

But that's not the reality the Royals or Lange are in right now, as the veteran hurler is coming off of a pair of less than ideal seasons.

In 2024, after throwing to mid-4.00s ERA and 1.77 WHIP, Detroit demoted Lange to Triple-A Toledo in May and never called him back up that year. And the 2025 season was marred by injury and another demotion to Triple-A, as he threw only one major league inning.

While it's unlikely that he'll be the guy to occupy high-leverage innings for the Royals next season, there's certainly reasons why taking this chance makes a whole lot of sense.

Lange is a strong strikeout arm, posting K/9 totals above 10.00 in each season from 2022 to 2024 and was great at inducing whiffs and keeping the ball on the ground in his heyday - he sat in the 85th percentile or higher in both categories in 2022 and 2023.

While he's always been susceptible to high walk rates - never posting a BB/9 mark below 4.00 - and of course has been all around poor when healthy the past two seasons, with Lange still possessing a minor league option, they don't have to be married to the idea of keeping him in the major leagues if he doesn't look strong.

So, to land a hometown Missouri native with closer upside, little risk with that minor league option and on a deal worth under $1 million, there's not a whole lot of downside to be had here.