Royals Rumors: Brad Boxberger shores up shaky bullpen

After a mostly quiet offseason, we have some Royals rumors to report! It appears the Kansas City Royals have agreed to terms with reliever Brad Boxberger.

The deal is for one year and now the Kansas City Royals have a name in their bullpen, if nothing else. Brad Boxberger has spent seven years in the majors with three different teams. His best years came while he was in Tampa Bay, making it to the All-Star Game in 2015.

That year saw Boxberger take over the closer duties and post 43 saves with the Rays in 63 innings pitched. He had an ERA of 3.71 and the season prior, spent just as a basic reliever, had a 2.37 ERA in 64.2 innings thrown.

Last season wasn’t as kind to Boxberger, as he had an ERA over four with the Diamondbacks, but he still notched 32 saves in 53.1 innings thrown. For what it’s worth, Kelvin Herrera and Wily Peralta each had 14 saves a season ago, but the Royals rarely gave their closers an opportunity to actually “save” a game.

This move isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, but at least Brad Boxberger adds depth to the bullpen and is a name fans might know. Prior to this signing, the bullpen was mostly full of younger players, which is to be expected in a rebuild.

Will Boxberger end up being a closer for the Royals? That’s tough to say, as he’s only signed for a year and Wily Peralta was decent in that role a season ago.

Maybe the two audition for the closer’s job in Spring Training or maybe the Royals opt to let a younger guy, one who might be around for a little bit longer, take his lumps at one of the most stressful positions in sports.

While his ERA and overall numbers weren’t great in Arizona last year, Boxberger still had 32 saves and has shown in years past that he can be a reliable reliever at the very least. If he goes out there and pitches well for the Royals, they can probably flip him in a trade at the deadline for… you guessed it… more prospects for the rebuild!

Again, no one is going to jump up and down about this move, but it’s a decent one for Dayton Moore and the Kansas City Royals. Royals rumors have been slow this winter, but now we finally have something to talk about.

Welcome to Kansas City, Brad Boxberger!