KC Royals News: Johnny Cueto, Yovani Gallardo, More

The KC Royals’ news over the last couple of days focuses on the signing of Johnny Cueto by the San Francisco Giants, interest in Yovani Gallardo, and more.

The Kansas City Royals are in the middle of a busy off-season. They are trying to sure-up their starting pitching, as they really only have two or three guys that have experience and aren’t injured who could start for the Royals. They also have openings in the outfield with both Alex Rios and Alex Gordon testing the free agent waters.

General Manager and co. in the front office have been rumored to be looking for a new second baseman to step in for Omar Infante. Infante was with the Royals last year, but an injury kept him out of the lineup, and ultimately forced Moore to trade for Ben Zobrist, who just signed with the Chicago Cubs.

Ex-Royals ace Johnny Cueto, who was also acquired via trade during last season, also signed with another team just a few days ago with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants now have three aces in their rotation with Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and now Cueto as well.

Scary good rotation for the Giants.

Here’s what FanSided has to say about Royals’ news as of late:

Royals Rumors: Yovani Gallardo draws interest from Royals (KCKingdom)

"He is a decent sized pitcher at 6-foot-2 who threw at a 3.42 ERA clip last season with a record of 13-11. Last season was his first with the Rangers after spending the entirety of his career before with the Milwaukee Brewers. In Milwaukee, he was the ace some seasons, headlined with a 16-9 season and a 14-7 season as well."

KC Royals: What Joakim Soria brings four years later (KCKingdom)

"Soria pitched five memorable seasons for the Royals (2007-2011), appeared in two All Star games for the team, and even finished on the back-end of some Cy Young ballots for his 2010 performance. During that stretch, Soria posted a 2.40 ERA in 315 innings pitched. He struck out 9.7 batters per 9 innings and racked up 160 saves."

KC Royals: What to spend on a new outfielder (Kings of Kauffman)

"If we look at the current Alex Gordon situation, we should get a rough idea of what Moore has to offer. Gordon looks in line to receive a four year deal, worth around $100 million dollars.With KC apparently at risk of being out-priced in the Gordon bidding, we can guess that $25 million a year is pretty much the max the Kansas City Royals can or are willing to offer (if there were more funds available or allocated, they wouldn’t be getting out-priced)."

KC Royals: Omar Infante must start season well in order to draw trade interest (Kings of Kauffman)

"The problem is I don’t see the KC Royals finding a team willing to take on the $17.75 million remaining in the final two years of Infante’s contract unless he gets off to a strong start to the 2016 season. Remember, Omar Infante was the worst hitting position player in baseball to get enough plate appearances to be eligible for the batting title last season (commonly termed a “qualified position player”). Infante’s Adjusted On Base Plus Slugging (OPS+) was a horrendous 49 (51% worse than a league average hitter in 2015)"

Here’s what the rest of the world wide web has to add about Royals’ news:

Report: KC Royals looking to move Infante, but can they? (Fox Sports)

"In 33-year-old Omar Infante, the Kansas City Royals have an expensive and inconsistent infielder. He’s owed $7.75 million in 2016, $8 million in 2017 and has a $10 million team option for 2018, so it seems unlikely the club would find anyone interested in trading for his services.However, Andy McCullough of the K.C. Star indicated over the weekend that the club is interested in trading Infante."

Trading Infante would be a huge step in the right direction for the future of the organization and it’s success as soon as this year. Infante is talented obviously, but he’s just not a good fit with this young Royals team.

Johnny Cueto agrees to deal with San Francisco Giants (KC Star)

"The Royals swapped three left-handed pitching prospects, including 2014 first-round pick Brandon Finnegan, with Cincinnati in order to acquire Cueto in July. But the Royals never committed a serious pursuit of him as a free agent. His price always exceeded their budget. Instead, the team has already completed a reunion with right-hander Chris Young on a two-year, $11.5 million deal."

Next: Five Pitchers to Target in Free Agency

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