Kansas City Royals: Best free agent signings under Dayton Moore

BEST DAYTON MOORE FREE AGENTS – NUMBER 5: RYAN MADSON

During the Royals’ run to the top of the mountain, they had a knack for transforming broken down/injured pitchers into legitimate weapons out of the bullpen. We already touched on Mike Minor, but the Royals also had another one on their roster during their 2015 World Series season.

Ryan Madson was another such example of that and his performance as a Royal got him a swanky new deal with the Oakland Athletics one season later. Madson started the season as a guy to put out fires from the bullpen, but once Greg Holland got injured, he became the new seventh-inning guy, as the other two elite arms moved to the eighth and ninth inning respectively.

Ryan Madson might not be the flashiest name to ever have been signed, but he was a top notch arm out of the bullpen.

Madson had not pitched in a major league game since 2011, but you’d never have known that watching him pitch in 2015. He had one hell of a year with the Royals that year.

He appeared in 68 games, throwing 63.1 innings with a 2.13 ERA and 0.963 WHIP while recording 58 strikeouts and only walking 14 batters. He’d allow just 15 earned runs on the year.

Madson’s postseason wasn’t as impressive, but his regular-season performance earned him a three-year deal with the Athletics. He’d get traded to the Nationals in year two and performed well during his stint there.

Ryan Madson might not be the flashiest name to ever have been signed, but he was a top-notch arm out of the bullpen. His postseason was rough, but Madson (along with the rest of the bullpen) was a prime reason why the Royals got that far in the first place.