Royals Rumors: Jason Hammel Signs Two-Year Deal With Royals
Royals rumors have surrounded Jason Hammel potentially joining the Kansas City Royals for the 2017 season and now those rumors have become a reality. Jason Hammel is coming to Kansas City!
Shortly after the end of the thrilling Super Bowl on Sunday night, the KC Royals announced that they had signed starting pitcher Jason Hammel to a two-year deal and a mutual option on a third year.
This is exciting news for the Royals, who have now seen their team sign a new pitcher and Brandon Moss last weekend. Both of these guys bring help to areas that need improvement on the Royals roster.
While Hammel was a name floating around for the Royals earlier on during the hot stove season, the tragic death of Yordano Ventura two weeks ago led to the team needing to sign another arm.
They’ll now have Danny Duffy, Ian Kennedy, Jason Vargas, and possibly Nate Karns to round out the rotation with the newest Royal.
Source: #Royals in agreement with free-agent RHP Jason Hammel on two-year contract with mutual option for a third year, pending physical.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 6, 2017
Hammel pitched for the Chicago Cubs last season and had a 3.83 ERA in 166.2 innings thrown. He had a 15-10 record and struck out 144 batters during his 30 starts for the Cubs in 2016.
Jason Hammel was the pitcher I most wanted to see the Kansas City Royals land this offseason. I didn’t expect them to really go out and sign a whole lot of new players, but they’ve made trades and have shown that they’re going to contend with the best of them in 2017 and beyond.
The 2017 season used to be thought of as a boom or bust type year for the Royals with a lot of their guys hitting free agency after this season. Now, however, they’re getting more players that will help keep them relevant for 2018 and in the future seasons.
Jason Hammel will have a physical this week. Should he pass, which is expected, the best FA pitcher is off the market and with the Royals.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 6, 2017
Chalk this one up as a win for the Royals. Any time you can add an experienced starting pitcher, that’s a win for sure. The Royals have struggled to have a solid rotation in the past few seasons and now they’re making the moves to try and change that.
The Royals rumors that originally surfaced linking these two didn’t seem like they’d actually happen, but man am I glad they did!
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My projected rotation for 2017 would be Duffy, Kennedy, Vargas, Hammel, and Karns. I wouldn’t be shocked, however, if Hammel ended up as the third starter over Jason Vargas.
What do you make of this signing, Royals fans? Are you excited that the Kansas City Royals just inked a new starting pitcher to the payroll?