Kansas City Royals: 2018 bullpen full of new faces

The Kansas City Royals used to be known for their amazing bullpen. That might not be the case in 2018, as a lot of newbies will be sitting in the pen come Opening Day.

Spring training has come to an end and that means Opening Day is around the corner for the Kansas City Royals! One of the big questions this offseason was what would the KC Royals’ bullpen look like in 2018?

Well, with spring training winding down and the regular season just days away, we’re beginning to get a better idea of what the Royals bullpen will look like. No, there will be no Wade Davis or Greg Holland (though I believe he’s still available… Hintity hint hint Dayton Moore), but there will be a few friendly faces back in the reliever role.

The most well known man in the Royals bullpen is Kelvin Herrera, who more than likely will be the closer for the team. Herrera struggled in the closer role last year, but Moore and company obviously believe in him to have a bounce back season.

Another familiar face returning to the pen is Brandon Maurer, who was a midseason trade acquisition last year from the Padres. Maurer did not do well in his short time in Kansas City, but he did record 20 saves with the Padres before being trade so the talent is certainly there.

Fans will know those two names, but what about the other members of the bullpen? That’s where the new faces will come into play. Royals Farm Report on Twitter tweeted out what the bullpen will probably look like at the start of the season.

The Royals signed Justin Grimm last week, so him making the cut wasn’t surprising in the least bit. The fact that he has big league reliever experience and was signed so late into spring training pretty much made it a lock that he’d be joining the Royals pen. Hopefully he can stay healthy and get back to his pre-2017 form.

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Brian Flynn wasn’t too effective last year due to injury, but he’s out of options. Plus, Flynn did have a nice 2016 campaign with an ERA under three in 55.1 innings thrown. If he can get back to those numbers, he could potentially be one of the best arms in the bullpen.

Eric Skoglund making it is a bit surprising, but it likely won’t be a permanent thing. Skoglund will probably head back down to the minors after a week or two to work on being a full-time starter. That’s what the organization should do with him anyway.

Skoglund isn’t a “new face” per say, but he didn’t see a ton of time out of the bullpen last year. He started five games for the Royals and appeared in seven total. I’d like to see him get more time as a starter in the minor leagues.

As for the bottom three on that list, Brad Keller is a Rule 5 guy, Tim Hill has that awesome submarine delivery that everyone loves (plus he’s a lefty!) and Blaine Boyer is a 36-year old veteran who last pitched for the Red Sox. None are names that Royals fans probably know, but sometimes the unknown can be a good thing.

It wouldn’t be shocking if Wily Peralta found his way into the pen either. He’s had a rough spring training, but was one of Kansas City’s earliest free agent signings. He’s also an experienced veteran and those guys tend to keep getting jobs in sports.

As of now, the Kansas City Royals bullpen is full of new faces, but that might not end up being a bad thing. Maybe some of these pitchers will surprise us. You just never know.