More players became free agents.
On Friday, 62 more players became free agents after they were non-tendered at the deadline for arbitration-eligible players. Some players non-tendered were not yet arbitration-eligible, but non-tendering them allows teams to get them off the 40-man roster while avoiding waivers, which can allow them to re-sign players to minor league deals as some already yhave. The Royals did not non-tender anyone last week, although they did their 40-man roster cleanup earlier in the off-season, outrighting reliever Josh Taylor.
You can find a complete list of who was non-tendered last week here. There are a few players that might be of interest to the Royals.
Hitters
Dylan Carlson was a 2.4 rWAR player and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2021, but has declined every year since and was a full win below replacement level this year. He hit just 209/.287/.277 overall this season and is being dumped just two months after the Rays acquired him this summer. He draws walks and is a good defender, and he was a pretty good contact hitter the last two seasons, only to see his strikeout rate spike to 28 percent this year. He’s a pretty enigmatic player, but he’s just 26 and might fare well as a platoon player against lefties.
Bryan de la Cruz is another young player being dumped just months after being acquired. The Pirates picked up de la Cruz at the trade deadline for actual prospects despite only marginally being in contention. He’s a typical low on-base, decent power corner outfielder with poor defense. It wouldn’t take much to upgrade the Royals outfield, but de la Cruz is really just a younger version of Hunter Renfroe.
Austin Hays was also traded at the deadline, acquired by the Phillies with the hopes he could return to the form that made him an All-Star in 2023. He fared even worse in Philly than he had with Baltimore, and hit .255/.303/.396 overall with just five home run in 255 plate appearances. He hardly walks at all, but also doesn’t strike out much and could be a right-handed platoon partner.
Connor Joe hit 265/.368/.452 against lefties in 2023, but his power fell off this year, although he still had a .335 on-base percentage against southpaws. Overall he hit .228/.320/.368 with 9 home runs in 468 plate appearances. He’s a bench bat whose best position is right field, although he can play some left and first base.
Josh Rojas could fill the Garrett Hampson utility role this season. He’s a lefty bat who can play all over the field with good defensive metrics. He can draw some walks, hit a home run now and then, and steal some bases, although his baserunning metrics were poor this year. He hit just .225/.304/.336 but was a 1.9 fWAR player, making him a surprising non-tender.
Mike Tauchman was another surprising non-tender that may have been the victim of a numbers game in Chicago. With Cody Bellinger returning on a player option and Pete Crow-Armstrong coming up, there wasn’t playing time left for Tauchman, who hit .248/.357/.366 with 7 home runs in 350 plate appearances. He has a career 12.9 percent walk rate and could serve as the lefty bat in a platoon in the corners.
Pitchers
Tyler Alexander could be a good match for the Royals if they’re looking for a swingman who can pitch in the pen, but also provide rotation depth with occasional starts. He’s a prototypical soft-tossing lefty who thows strikes with one of the lowest walk rates in baseball over the last three seasons. He profiles similarly to Ryan Yarbrough, who the Royals signed in 2023, and could fill a similar role.
JT Chargois posted a 2.23 ERA, although with a 98 percent left on base rate, which suggests some regression. But he’s been a pretty solid reliever forr four seasons now, despite an inability to miss bats. He typically yields groundball rates north of 50 percent, but that plummeted to just 36.6 percent this year. His walk rates are a bit high and the right-hander turns 34 next week, so he’s a bit of a gamble.
Enyel de los Santos was a solid reliever from 2022-23 with the Guardians, posting a 3.18 ERA and a 25.7 percent strikeout rate. But he had massive problems with the home run ball this year, giving 17 in just 63 innings as he pitched for three different teams. He is an extreme flyball pitcher which may play a bit better at Kauffman Stadium, and he can still miss bats. He may just require some tweaking to his 95 mph fastball to make it less hittable up in the zone, or rely on his slider even more.
Kyle Finnegan was an All-Star who was second in the National League with 38 saves, making it a shocker that the Nationals non-tendered him rather than try to get something for him. He has a 97 mph fastball, but his strikeout rates are merely average. His walk rates are a bit high and he gets a lot of grounders on his splitter. He’s 33 but he has been a solid reliever for years and should be in some demand.
Ian Gibaut missed most of the season after a nerve procedure but should be ready for next season. He was a solid 1.8 rWAR reliever in 2023 with a 3.33 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 75 2/3 innings for the Reds, earning a few saves. His 93 mph four-seamer was pretty effective that year and he did not allow much hard-hit contact, the questions is whether he can recapture that magic.
Hoby Milner is a lefty reliever, but he had a reverse platoon split this year when his ERA spiked to 4.73, up from 1.82 in 2023. His FIP in both years was right around 3.10, so you could chalk up his fluctuating ERAs to batted ball luck. He’s a pretty good strike-thrower with a fair amount of strikeouts and shouldn’t have any trouble finding another big league contract.
Hunter Stratton walked just 4.4 percent of hitters he faced, posting a 3.58 ERA in 37 2⁄3 innings. He doesn’t strike out many hitters though and he missed the final month of the season with a knee injury. Royals fans may be wary of adding another Stratton to the bullpen.
Jacob Webb posted a nifty 3.02 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 56 2/3 innings for the Orioles. The former Tabor College (KS) pitcher has high walk rates and suffered some elbow inflammation late in the year, but he was solid in 2023 and is 31 years old.