Royals Rumblings

[DravenX]

The Royals are only paying about $2.5 million of the $5.45 million Jason LaRue is due next season.
The Reds will cover the rest of the contract after trading him to Kansas City on Monday. For that little money, we like this quite a bit better for the Royals.

Royals purchased the contract of LHP Neal Musser, LHP Danny Christensen and RHP Carlos Rosa.
Musser, 26, is getting added to the roster after just re-signing with the organization on a minor league contract. Both left-handers pitched well in the Arizona Fall League, and Musser could figure into the bullpen picture next spring.

Royals designated second baseman Donnie Murphy for assignment.
Ruben Gotay reached Kansas City as a 21-year-old in 2004 and Murphy made his debut as a 22-year-old the following year. At the time, both looked like legitimate second base prospects. However, neither made any progress after his major league debut and the Royals have to get at least part of the blame. Murphy batted .249/.300/.437 at Double-A Wichita last season. He'll probably clear waivers.

Royals designated LHP Juan Cedeno for assignment.
Cedeno, 23, went 2-9 with a 5.78 ERA and a 65/78 K/BB ratio in 90 1/3 innings for Double-A Wichita last season. He has very good velocity for a left-hander, but he just can't do anything with it. It doesn't look like the Royals will have anything to show from the 2005 trade with the Red Sox that netted them Cedeno and Chip Ambres for Tony Graffanino.

A few rumors from the past few days. Can someone sticky this?

[Killah Sith]

Murphy ended up getting traded to the A's. KC is interested in Gil Meche and Miguel Bautista too.

Even though the players I want to see will start off in Omaha, I'm looking forward to the baseball season.

[love_that_reefer]

FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal confirmed that it's Brian Bannister the Mets are likely to send to Kansas City for Ambiorix Burgos.
We like it, though as with the Jason Vargas deal with the Marlins last month, it's a trade that won't necessarily help the Mets next season. Burgos could very well begin the year in the minors unless he has a strong spring. Bannister, on the other hand, would be a strong candidate for a spot in Kansas City's rotation.

Bannister didn't look too terribly bad when I saw him pitch. He was all over the place but had some good movement on his pitches. If he could get some control, he would make for a solid number three guy. Burgos was not closer material for the Royals. Might make a good set up guy one day.

[love_that_reefer]

Royals released RHP Runelvys Hernandez.
They tried to trade him, but there were no takers. The 28-year-old Hernandez needs to find his way to the NL, perhaps with the Nationals. He went 25-33 with a 5.38 ERA in four seasons with the Royals, including 6-10 with a 6.48 ERA last year.

They need to do some house cleaning.

[DravenX]

Royals designated infielder Jeff Keppinger for assignment.
The move clears a 40-man roster spot for David Riske. Keppinger, 26, hit .316/.368/.389 for two Triple-A teams and .267/.323/.400 in 60 at-bats with Kansas City last season. His lack of versatility hurts, but he's a capable backup second baseman with the ability to start for weeks at a time. There's a good chance that he'll get claimed.

Source: RotoWorld

[MO reds fan]

Buck should never start again IMO. He is bad.I know that reds fan including myself didn't really like La Rue but he is much better than Buck.