Kansas City Royals will have bottom ten bullpen in 2020

The Kansas City Royals bullpen is improving, but not enough to propel them out of the bottom ten of the league when it comes to relief pitching.

Jacob Shafer of Bleacher Report ranked every MLB bullpen ahead of the 2020 season (if there even is one, which at this point, who knows?) and had the Kansas City Royals‘ bullpen in his bottom ten.

Here was Shafer’s reasoning for that,

"Transitioning to the bullpen after 12 seasons as a starter, Ian Kennedy saved 30 games and posted a 3.41 ERA last year, though he struggled in stretches. Veterans Greg Holland and Trevor Rosenthal have 327 career saves between them, but both have struggled with command since coming back from Tommy John surgery. Kansas City’s unit doesn’t lack experience, but enough questions exist to keep it in the bottom 10."

Ever since the Royals had one of the best bullpens baseball has ever seen in 2014 and 2015, they’ve dropped off tremendously, which is to be expected. Those 2014 and 2015 bullpens were historically good and chances are we never see a relief unit that good ever again, especially somewhere like Kansas City where they can’t shell out boatloads of cash to the best relievers in the game.

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Even still, the Royals’ bullpen has been slowly, but surely improving. As Shafer mentioned, Ian Kennedy really found his niche as a closer for the Royals last season and if there is a 2020 season and he can show glimpses of his 2019 form, he should be an attractive trade candidate for a team looking to add a closer.

Greg Holland and Trevor Rosenthal are the kind of pitchers Dayton Moore covets – They’re both former greats who have struggled to stay healthy recently and are on the mend. Holland was obviously a part of the Royals’ dominant bullpens during their World Series runs, serving as the closer in both seasons until he was injured midway through 2015.

There’s always a pitcher or two who ends up coming out of nowhere and surprising in the bullpen and that’s to be expected again in 2020. Brad Keller fell into this group two years ago during his rookie season and Tim Hill was the surprise breakout candidate in 2019, so now it’s just a matter of who it could be in 2020 that steps up and becomes a potential leader in the pen in 2020.

If there is a 2020 season, there’s no doubting that the Royals’ bullpen won’t be great, but there are certainly some promising names who could be a part of that unit. Scott Barlow, Carlos Hernandez, Richard Lovelady, Randy Rosario, and Josh Staumont are all names to keep an eye on in 2020 as relief pitchers who could step their game up and be a big part of the bullpen.

The bullpen might be a weakness for the Kansas City Royals right now, but hopefully they’ll be able to turn the corner soon and become a solid unit during the contending years.