Royals Rumors: Mike Minor likely not returning to Royals in 2018
The Royals rumors have slowed down recently, but one of the first free agents to sign a new deal will more than likely be former Royal Mike Minor.
The Kansas City Royals have made it a trend to pick up injured starting pitchers and then turn them into tremendous arms in the bullpen. Mike Minor was yet another one of those guys in the Royals system.
The Royals signed Minor prior to the 2016 season, but he never saw the mound in the majors that year. He really rose to the occasion in 2017 though and became the Royals’ best reliever out of the bullpen.
After his impressive 2.55 ERA in 77.2 innings pitched last year, Minor is going to be a hot commodity in free agency. He’s already being linked with other teams and the Royals have not been among those linked to Minor.
Some rival evaluators believe the Red Sox and Astros may be best positioned in the discussions for free agent reliever Mike Minor. Both teams have a need for a lefty.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 30, 2017
Mets and Astros among teams that checked on lefty Mike Minor, who had a strong 2017 season. He'll be among first free agents to come off the board, and evaluators expect he will do very well, as arguably the top LH relief option. https://t.co/bcnT7RrTL2
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 29, 2017
From Buster Olney’s two tweets above, the Astros, Mets, and Red Sox are all interested in adding Mike Minor to their bullpen. Minor actually did some closing duties for the Royals last year, notching six saves in his limited action in the closer role.
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Left-handed pitchers are some of the most coveted players in all of baseball. Minor was handled brilliantly by Kansas City and now will be in prime position to get a nice deal this winter.
While it’s a bit unfortunate that the Royals won’t be re-signing Minor, his $10 million option was not something the organization could swing at the moment. He’ll make more than that on the market anyway.
Looking at the interested teams, we all saw how much the Astros’ bullpen struggled in the World Series. They could definitely use a guy like Minor in their reliever core. The Red Sox can afford anyone they want, so if they want Minor, he’s probably going to end up in Boston.
With Minor as good as gone, the Royals could decide to completely revamp their bullpen in 2018. They’ll still have Kelvin Herrera, Scott Alexander, Kevin McCarthy, and hopefully they’ll end up re-signing Peter Moylan, but none of those guys had as good of a season as Minor did in 2017.
Mike Minor is the long list of Royals relievers who once was a starting pitch in the majors and rose to prominence in the pen. Ryan Madson got a nice contract from the A’s two years ago thanks to Kansas City displaying him for the world to see during the 2015 season. Oh, not to mention Wade Davis, who is probably going to be the highest paid relievers on the market.
Where do you ultimately see Mike Minor ending up?