Kansas City Royals: Brandon Maurer demotion needed to happen
The Kansas City Royals and their fans are in for a long season, but sending Brandon Maurer to Triple-A was absolutely the right decision.
We’re only a little over two weeks into the 2018 season, but the Kansas City Royals look pretty terrible so far. The starting rotation has been the only bright spot, as both the offense and the bullpen have looked like utter garbage through the first two weeks of the season.
The most despised name in the Royals bullpen was, without a doubt, Brandon Maurer, who never rebounded from his awful second half 2017. It was almost as if the 2017 season never ended and Maurer learned nothing this offseason.
It only took 4.1 innings and a 12.46 ERA for it to happen, but Maurer is finally being demoted and it’s absolutely the right decision by the Royals organization. The guy has been horrendous out of the pen and if nothing else, maybe this (in what is hopefully a long stint in the minor leagues) will get Maurer’s confidence back and he can pitch like that guy who once saved 20 games for the Padres.
The Royals have called up Kevin McCarthy and optioned Brandon Maurer to Omaha. The first bullpen move of the year.
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) April 13, 2018
No one expected much out of this Royals bullpen, but fans didn’t expect Maurer to continue to be THIS bad. He was initially going to be the setup man for Kelvin Herrera, so obviously Dayton Moore and company had faith that Maurer would figure things out on the mound.
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Instead, he’d enter the game and Royals fans immediately feared for the worse. Maurer didn’t exactly do much to give fans confidence in him being out there and now he’s off to Omaha.
The answer to who was called up is Kevin McCarthy, who had a nice 2017 campaign. McCarthy not making the initial Opening Day roster was a bit surprising to me, but now he’ll get to prove himself and try to stay in the bigs for the duration of the season.
Going back to Maurer, It’s tough to say how long he will be in the minors for, but any type of injury to the pitching staff could result in him being back here before we know it. It’d be nice to see the Royals give other Storm Chasers an opportunity this season, but if they’re not ready, then Maurer will probably be the one getting the call.
It’s interesting to think about, but now no one from that Padres trade is on the Royals roster. Trevor Cahill is gone, Ryan Buchter is in Oakland, and now Maurer is going to throw batting practice to minor league hitters. That trade is on its way to becoming one of the worst of all-time, but most Royals fans would agree that they were fine with it when it was made.
So, Royals fans, Brandon Maurer is in the minor leagues. We should all be very glad that he won’t be able to blow anymore games any time soon.