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KC Royals: Rafael Furcal And Other Moves

By John Viril

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The KC Royals officially added infielder Rafael Furcal to the 40-man roster on Wednesday, signing him to a minor-league contract that can be worth $1.25 million if he makes the.the major-league roster with $250,000 in incentives.

CBS Sports reporter Jon Heyman tweeted details of the deal:

Along with signing the 37-year-old former three-time All-Star Furcal, the Kansas City Royals re-assigned multiple players to minor-league camp.

Hunter Dozier, no. 1 prospect Raul Aldaberto Mondesi, former top five pick Bubba Starling, Buddy Baumann, Joe Paterson, Brian Broderick, Casey Coleman and Matt Fields all moved over to the minor-league field in Surprise, Arizona.

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Starling, by-the-way, has been something of a pleasant surprise this spring. He hit .286 while not looking overwhelmed at the plate against major-league competition.

Meanwhile, the KC Royals optioned Orlando Calixte, Aaron Brooks, Lane Adams. and Jorge Bonifacio to AAA Omaha.

The most interesting move was adding Rafael Furcal. He’s a guy that Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore knows well from his days in the Atlanta Braves front office, where Furcal starred at shortstop for six seasons through 2005.

Furcal moved on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers for six more seasons, two years in St. Louis, and spent 2014 in Miami. Rafael Furcal earned his last All-Star nod as recently as 2012 with the Cardinals. He was out of baseball in 2013 after missing the season with Tommy John surgery.

Rafael Furcal has had a solid bat for a middle infielder over his career, slashing .281/.346/.402 for an OPS+ of 96 (4% below a league average hitter). Along with his three All-Star seasons, Furcal also won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2000 for the Braves.

Adding Furcal suggests the KC Royals are concerned about the health of incumbent second baseman Omar Infante. Infante has struggled with a sore elbow this spring. An MRI showed Infante had a bone spur, but he expects to delay surgery until next winter.

With Omar Infante ailing, Rafael Furcal provides some insurance in case Infante’s elbow condition gets worse.

The move could also impact the Royals bullpen. The team had toyed with the idea of an eight-man bullpen to accommodate rule 5 pick Jandel Gustave, but that might be a luxury the team can’t afford if they need to carry two utility infielders (Christian Colon and Rafael Furcal).

The KC Royals might still go with an eight-man pen, send Christian Colon down to Omaha since the team still has options available on him, and insert Furcal into the utility infielder role in Kansas City.

Any way you cut it, Christian Colon might be the unhappiest guy in camp after looking to be a lock to open the season in Kansas City.

However, the increased depth is all part of Dayton Moore’s recognition that his team is in the “contention” phase of the franchise life cycle.

Rafael Furcal, Casey Kotchman, Reymond Fuentes, and Joe Blanton are all veteran depth guys who are on the roster to hedge against injury disaster.

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