None of them Carlos Estevez, Matt Strahm, Johannes Schreiber, Nick Mears or Bailey Falter Optionally you can choose Triple-A. Lucas Erceg has a slew of options, but won’t be sent down given his status as one of the team’s best bullpen arms. Daniel Lynch IV and offseason signee Alex Lange are the only relievers who could plausibly be optioned at this point. Since players with more than five years of service cannot be selected without their consent, signing a free agent would further limit the team’s movements in terms of rotating pitchers between Kansas City and Triple-A Omaha.
Kansas City currently has three lefties slated for the opening day bullpen: Strahm, Lynch and Falter. Only Strahm, whom they acquired from the Phillies earlier this winter, seems like a lock for leverage innings. While Lynch pitched a neat 3.06 ERA in 67 2/3 frames last season, he did so with the third-lowest strikeout rate among all qualified relievers in the MLB (the only grounder specialist to lead the charge). Tim Hill and swingman Kolby Allard). Metrics like SIERA (4.62) and FIP (4.76) are much more bearish than the former top prospect. Falter, meanwhile, allowed 15 earned runs in 12 innings after coming over from the Pirates in July.
Those are the only three left-handed relievers on Kansas City’s 40-man roster. The rotation includes three lefties Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic And Noah Cameronbut they all got a ticket to start performances. Angel Zerpa was one of the team’s favorite options from the left side, but he was traded to the Brewers in the trade that netted both Collins and Mears.
It can be difficult to identify obvious trade targets when it comes to controllable relievers. Jose A. Ferrer had been one of those lefties, but the Nats already sent him to the Mariners this season. The Cardinals have a left-handed reliever who is clearly available in trade, but… JoJo Romero has five years of big league service and cannot be sent to Triple-A without his consent. He doesn’t fit the mold of controllable, option reliever the Royals are looking for.
Speculatively speaking, Dylan Dodd doesn’t have a clear path to innings in Atlanta’s bullpen. The Brewers are deep in lefties (Jared Koenig, Aaron Ashby, DL-Hal) and are usually willing to have a conversation with anyone. The Cubs signed five free agent relievers this offseason, leaving a trio of lefties on the 40-man roster who have been ticketed to Triple-A work (Lucas Klein, Jordan Wieken, Riley Martin).
As evidenced by Lange’s signing, the lower tiers of free agency typically offer bullpen opportunities while options remain. Jan Koningnot offered by the Cardinals, could be a sensible left-hander, although he will have five years of service with just 24 days left on a big-league roster, at which point he would no longer provide the flexibility that Kansas City was apparently looking for. However, he would be a potential multi-year option as he would have an additional year of arbitration control.
There’s a wide range of possibilities to consider, but it seems reasonable to expect that the Royals could try to engineer a trade for an under-the-radar southpaw, or at least try to actively work the waiver wire or DFA market to add some additional depth in the coming weeks.
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