Kansas City Royals: Spring competition will fill out rotation

The Kansas City Royals aren’t quite sure which pitchers will be rounding out the back-end of their starting rotation, and that’s just fine with the defending World Series champions.

Manager Ned Yost told the Kansas City Star that the club will pin down its fourth and fifth starters during Spring Training. Yordano Ventura, Edinson Volquez and newcomer Ian Kennedy will in all likelihood take the first three sports, though the skipper isn’t prepared to say who will take the mound on Opening Day.

That leaves Chris Young, Kris Medlen and Danny Duffy as the primary candidates to complete the staff.

Yost said that Spring Training is “always competitive” with the Royals, and this year will be no different. “We’ll do like we do every spring,” he said. “We’ll go out and let guys pitch. You kind of go in with an open mind.”

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Kansas City re-signed the veteran right-hander Chris Young to a two-year deal after a surprisingly effective 2015 campaign. Young made 18 starts in 34 appearances for the Royals, posting a 3.06 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 1.93 K/BB ratio on the year overall.

Other metrics paint a somewhat less optimistic picture, however. Young put up a 4.52 FIP, nearly a run and a half higher than his ERA. He also handed out a bit too many walks (3.1 BB/9) and didn’t miss very many bats (6.1 K/9), as has been typical throughout his career.

Set to turn 37 in May, it may be hard to determine exactly what Young will provide in 2016, but he has produced solid numbers in his 11 big league seasons and Kansas City would likely be quite satisfied with a repeat performance of last year.

Kris Medlen made only 15 appearances (8 starts) for the Royals in 2015 as he continued rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He posted a 4.01 ERA in 58.1 innings, allowing fewer than a hit per frame (8.6 H/9) and doing a fine job of limiting home runs (0.8 HR/9).

The Royals will hope that a complete, healthy season yields strong results for the 30-year-old hurler. In 2013, his last full campaign before surgery, he won 15 games for the Braves to the tune of a 3.11 ERA.

Danny Duffy generated fairly average returns last season, putting up a 4.08 ERA over 136.2 innings. Like Young, he struggled with walks (3.5 BB/9) and didn’t strike out enough opponents (6.7 K/9) to help make up the difference.

However, Yost implied that Duffy might end up in a relief role for the team. “Danny Duffy is a guy, as we saw last year, he could be very valuable out of the pen,” he explained. Duffy closed out the 2015 regular season with 8.1 scoreless frames in relief, allowing only four hits and two walks while striking out 12. He could develop into a valuable left-handed option for an already imposing bullpen.

Another wild card is veteran righty Dillon Gee. The former Met signed a minor league deal with Kansas City in December. According to the Star‘s Rustin Dodd, Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland also mentioned the 29-year-old Gee as a potential contributor for the club in 2016.

A groin injury and ineffectiveness spoiled Gee’s season last year, as he sputtered to a 5.90 ERA in just 39.2 frames before being designated for assignment by the Mets. The previous two campaigns were much kinder, however. In 2013 and 2014, Gee put up a 3.77 ERA over 54 starts. He’s a long shot, but one worth keeping in mind as spring approaches.

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The Royals can afford to take their time and be flexible in letting their rotation take shape. After all, they won a championship last year without the benefit of a particularly great set of starting pitchers. Kansas City starters pitched to a 4.34 ERA in 2015, good for just 23rd in the league.

As long as their resilient offense and shut-down bullpen remain intact, the Royals’ number-four and five starters, whoever they are, will probably do just fine.

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