• You may have noticed that we didn’t post anything on Wednesday or yesterday surrounding the Royals signing Chris Owings to a $3 million deal with $500k in incentives. If you were wondering why, at least from my end, it’s because I was confused. And I still am. There was a time that Owings was highly regarded and he’s still just 27 years old. But he’s also six years into a big league career where he’s hit .250/.291/.378 playing half his games at what was a hitter’s paradise before the 2018 season. And the role he’s presumably in for is to be a utility infielder, which includes backing up the shortstop position. Sounds fine, I suppose, but Owings didn’t play shortstop at all in 2018. Why? Well, the metrics say he isn’t especially good there. I haven’t seen a ton of him, so maybe the metrics are missing something in him, but my concern is that if you bring in a guy who can’t hit, he better be very good defensively and Owings just isn’t. Now, it could be that this is just the first move in a series of moves, but I doubt that. If that’s the case, I’ll call off the dogs. And beyond the actual player, why give him $3 million? Who are you competing with for Owings and why aren’t you just letting them have him? There are plenty of shortstop options out there who can probably be had for less than that. Look, there are worse things than signing a utility guy for a relatively small amount, but this to me seems like a poor use of limited funds and limited roster space. And to make it all worse, the Twins signed Ronald Torreyes, who is a better defender and probably a better hitter (or at least has a higher floor) to a minor league deal worth $800k. Come on, Dayton. 
• In Ken Rosenthal’s latest at The Athletic (okay, probably not even his latest at this point), he talks about the Angels decision to non-tender Blake Parker and that the Royals (among many others) had reached out to him already. When I saw he was cut loose, the Royals were my first thought for him and a great opportunity for both sides. No, he’s not a part of the next good Royals team or anything and teams are smart enough to look past save totals, but a team that figures to be in a lot of close games would be a good team to sign with when trying to build some value. And he could be a nice trade chip mid-season if a team is looking for relievers as the 2019/2020 free agent relief market isn’t nearly as strong as this year’s, which leads to a weaker trade market as well. 2019 will be Parker’s age-34 season, which would probably surprise some, but he’s still pretty good with more than a strikeout per inning and good control. He got hit a little too hard with the home run ball, but he’d be a nice fit in a bullpen trying to be rebuilt. I know Ned Yost said that he’d be willing to be creative with his bullpen, but these roles have a way of working themselves out and I think Wily Peralta is a ticking timebomb. And I’ll say this again after I mentioned it last year. Some may think it’s not worth having a closer on a bad team, but I disagree. It’s not worth paying big money for one or keeping one who could have big trade value, but there’s value to being able to close down a close game for young players developing, so I’d definitely give Parker a shot and even give him two years if that’s what brings him in.
• Another non-tendered player seems to be mentioned quite a bit with the Royals and that’s Billy Hamilton. Look, I get it. The Royals love speed and they love defense and Hamilton is fast as all get out and can really go get it in center field. So it makes sense. And I’ll even go as far as to say that I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if the Royals picked him up just because of all that I mentioned before. But I really don’t see a purpose for it nor do I see why people actually seem to be in favor of it. I said before that Owings can’t hit, but Hamilton really really can’t hit. He’s a .245/.298/.333 career hitter and that’s playing half his games in a hitter’s haven. He strikes out too much and even though he actually walks a decent amount, it’s just not enough. He’s better defensively than Brian Goodwin and a bigger stolen base threat than Brett Phillips, but he also doesn’t hit lefties well, which would be the reason I could see to bring him in since Goodwin and Phillips are both lefties. I will say that the bigger dimensions at Kauffman Stadium could actually benefit him because of the type of hitter he is, but I doubt it would do enough for him. I just don’t see a reason for it personally and I hope they steer clear of the flash of his speed and defense. I do think Phillips probably finds himself in Omaha to start the 2019 season because of inventory, but I don’t think that needs to open up a spot for another outfielder, especially with Whit Merrifield and now Owings in the fold.
• The Rule 5 draft is coming up on Thursday at the end of the meetings, so I’ll give my thoughts on what the Royals could do here. I’ve mentioned Drew Jackson in the past as a guy they could look to as someone who could back up at shortstop and around the infield, but the Owings deal makes me think that won’t happen. The same is true for Richie Martin, who was a first round pick of the A’s just a few years ago and finally started to hit this past season in AA, but I’m not sure the spot for him is there. Art Warren from the Mariners could be fun with a fastball in the mid-90s that can get up to 98 and a filthy slider. He’s an injury risk and walked a ton of hitters last season in AA, but he could be a steal. Riley Ferrell from the Astros would be a big-time risk/reward proposition as well. Like Warren, walks are an issue and maybe the Royals already have this profile enough with guys like Josh Staumont, but if they can figure out his control issues, they could have a potential relief star. Of course, if the Astros can’t do it, can the Royals? Andrew Sopko from the Dodgers could be interesting. He gave up more hits than innings pitched last season, but also struck out more than a batter per inning. He’s not a star, but could be a number five guy or a middle relief arm. And one more (there are plenty, but I’ll stop here) is Emmanuel Ramirez who has a very good changeup and a very good curve but not a great fastball. Maybe it doesn’t work in the big leagues, but he’s had enough success that I’d give it a shot on a rebuilding team in a big park. I guess we’ll see in a few days what they do here.

But now things are different. Escobar is no longer the shortstop. That title belongs to Adalberto Mondesi, who hit .276/.306/.498 last season. With the Royals, Escobar topped that average twice, that OBP twice and got within 100 points of that slugging percentage exactly zero times. So aside from being a considerably better option, he’s also less durable. And that’s not a bad thing necessarily, but I believe the Royals will treat Mondesi the way they treated Lorenzo Cain for most of his tenure. Sure, they’d love to get 150 games out of him, but I think they’ll be happy with 135-140 in order to keep him and, in Mondesi’s case, his back healthy from the beginning of spring to hopefully the end of October.

And what that means is an increased need for a backup shortstop on the roster. With Escobar, he wasn’t coming out unless he was hurt in the middle of a game, which meant someone would play out of position for four innings and then they’d call someone up from Omaha. You just can’t do that if you’re planning to give multiple days off to your shortstop. Even if it’s once a week, you want to have someone there who isn’t drastically out of position and hurts the defense regularly.

There are a few names out there they can pursue. You know one of them. You’re not going to like one of them. I don’t like it either. I’ll get to him last just because I don’t want to get to him.

The Free Agents

MLB Trade Rumors lists 12 players as free agents under the shortstop umbrella. I count another two or three who are non-tender candidates. Of those, maybe Tyler Saladino would be a bit, though it sort of depends on how the Brewers handle their free agents and Jonathan Schoop. Of the free agents, there isn’t really a great option that jumps out to me other than the one I’m not going to mention for now. Asdrubal Cabrera, Freddy Galvis, Marwin Gonzalez, Jose Iglesias and Manny Machado all are obviously looking for starting jobs. Dixon Machado isn’t very good. Neither is Gregorio Petit or Eric Sogard. Jose Reyes is scummy, so he’s probably out. That leaves a couple players. Adeiny Hechavarria would fit as a strong defensive backup who would remind you a lot of that guy we’re not mentioning. And I’ve mentioned Jordy Mercer before if he’s willing to sign as a backup and for not too much money, though I think his market may be slightly more robust than I thought a few weeks ago.

Trade Targets

This is always much tougher to gauge because it’s just hard to say what a team is willing to do. For example, the Red Sox have three shortstops on their 40-man roster, so maybe they’d be willing to part with a player who doesn’t have much of a path to playing time. That doesn’t mean they’d just give up someone like Tzu-Wei Lin easily because he’s shown way too much promise to just dump because there’s a roster crunch. Maybe Ronald Torreyes could be had in a deal. He’s been a backup for the Yankees for the last three years. As of now, he’s very important with Didi Gregorious out for awhile to start the season, but if they go get Machado and don’t move anyone, he becomes moveable. Another name to watch could be Charlie Culberson, though I don’t know how keen the Braves would be to trade him at all after seeing him hit .270/.326/.466 for them in 322 plate appearances last season. But if they sign a third baseman or a shortstop and keep Dansby Swanson, the roster is getting awfully crowded.

An outside the box thought would require the Astros to re-sign Marwin Gonzalez and then turn around a flip Aledmys Diaz, who they just acquired from the Blue Jays. That would all depend on how they act and react in free agency, so it’s just really tough to say there. Again, trade speculation is so tough that I hesitate to even name any additional names here just because it’s so early in the offseason. But just know the possibility to go this route is out there.

Rule 5

Unless I’ve missed someone, there isn’t really much out there in the Rule 5 at shortstop that would get me excited for the Royals to have to carry all season long. There is one player who I could see maybe possibly worth a shot and that’s Drew Jackson from the Dodgers. He might not fit perfectly at shortstop, but I think he can handle the position well enough to play there once or twice a week. He hit .251/.356/.447 with an 11 percent walk rate and 22.7 percent strikeout rate that gives a bit of concern. He can really run. If he’s left unprotected, I believe the Royals could do far worse than him as a backup infielder, and I think he can play the Rosell Herrera role well.

Internal

Okay, here we go. The Royals could bring back Escobar. While the fans were ready to move on after 2017, it sure seemed like everyone was ready after 2018, but he hit .326/.367/.442 the last two months of the season after he really became a backup player and even posted a walk rate of 6.3 percent. I’m not saying I like the idea. I’m saying these are the ways the organization would justify it and spin it. I mentioned Rosell Herrera, and I do believe that if he’s going to stick on this 40-man, it’ll have to be because he plays shortstop. He played 1.2 innings there in AAA last year, six innings there in 2015 and 346 in 2014, which is his last significant action at the position. He also hasn’t played there in winter ball at all, spending most of his time in the outfield. I’m not saying he can’t play short. I’m just saying he probably can’t. Humberto Arteaga is a defensive wizard and he’s coming off his best year with the bat and continuing to hit well in the Venezuelan Winter League. I don’t think he’s an especially strong possibility, but the organization really likes him. They could also add Jecksson Flores, who broke out in AA this season. He’s really more of a second baseman, but a nice season could get him a shot on the 40-man and a crack at the big league roster.

And that leaves us with the one guy who could make this whole discussion moot. If Nicky Lopez breaks camp with the big club out of spring training, he’s the guy. I imagine if he’s up in the big leagues, he’s there to play mostly every day and I would guess he’ll play second and third and fill in at shortstop for Mondesi when he needs a rest. Lopez hit just .236/.314/.341 over the final two months of the season, so there is definitely no harm in letting him cook a little more in AAA to start the 2019 season. I believe the direction they go with regard to the backup shortstop position over the next couple months will tell us a lot about their thoughts on Lopez.

I know what you’re thinking. That’s a lot of words about a backup shortstop on a likely 90+ loss team, but hey, it’s early in the offseason and with so much attention likely to be focused on the pitching staff, this is the one spot where they might look to be active with position players.