Some future roster decisions seem fairly obvious all season, but when the offseason begins, they still carry weight.
The Kansas City Royals held a $12 million mutual option for next season with starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen, who came over in a midseason trade with the Texas Rangers a year ago and then re-signed on a one-year deal. He had a fairly mediocre season, though, and Kansas City’s deep rotation is its greatest roster asset.
That’s why it was no surprise to learn that on Monday, Lorenzen officially became a free agent, according to the official transaction log of Major League Baseball, meaning his mutual option was declined.
According to the Associated Press, it was the Royals who declined their end of the deal, which always made more sense than Lorenzen turning down an extra $10.5 million in guaranteed money. Mutual options, as a general rule, are seldom picked up and exist mainly as a way to guarantee players more money without the full sum counting against the luxury tax.
Lorenzen led the Royals with 127 strikeouts this season, which was mainly due to injuries across the rotation, namely ace Cole Ragans and No. 2 man Kris Bubic. He had a 4.64 ERA, surrendering a career-high 25 home runs, and ended the season with only 0.4 wins above replacement.
At this point in his career, Lorenzen is best served as a No. 5 starter. He has thrown 130-plus innings in each of the last three seasons after never doing so before, so he’s trending upward in terms of durability, and that should mitigate concerns about him entering his age-34 season.
The Royals’ rotation options for next season currently include Ragans, Bubic, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Noah Cameron, Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek, Bailey Falter, and Kyle Wright. It’s easy to envision them trading from that mix to address the offense.
Meanwhile, as the former All-Star Lorenzen enters the open market, it will be intriguing to see which teams with less pitching depth start signing depth arms early.
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