The Royals roster takes shape

Days from Opening Day, the addition of Mark Canha brings some more clarity as to how the Royals will open the season.

There were moves aplenty over the weekend as the Royals roster began to mold into the unit that will take the field on Opening Day this Thursday.

The first move came on Friday as it was rumored the Royals were acquiring Mark Canha from the Milwaukee Brewers. Canha signed with Milwaukee just as camps opened on a minor league contract. It was official on Saturday and given the Royals are shipping either cash or a player to be named later, it’s safe to assume Canha wasn’t going to make the Brewers’ Opening Day roster.

What does Canha bring to the Royals? For starters, a right-handed bat, presumably to come off the bench. Last season, splitting time between Detroit and San Francisco, Canha hit .275/.380/.395 with a 120 OPS+ against southpaws. That was in only 129 plate appearances. When he faced right-handed pitching, his production was quite worse: .229/.330/.328 with an 88 OPS+. That came in 333 plate appearances. The lack of proper balance of playing time, and given the fact he was 35 last year, led to the least productive full season of his career.

Mind you, Canha hasn’t always had those kinds of splits. Over the course of his career, he’s been equally productive no matter the handedness of the pitcher he’s facing. He’s hit .252/.356/.407 with a 100 OPS+ against righties and .244/.335/.428 with a 99 OPS+ versus left-handers. A statistical dead heat.

Here’s what Canha has to say about coming to Kansas City and his role on the team:

I've always been the versatile guy. I don't care where I play, I don't care where I hit in the lineup, I don't care if I'm in the lineup. I'm here to help and here to do what I do. I'm always just happy to be here. I have no expectations just to play ball, have fun and win with these guys…Whatever it looks like, however I can help, I just want to be that guy that comes in and does a good job.

The Canha acquisition moves the needle in that it improves the bench and gives the Royals the option to platoon him with MJ Melendez in left. I say this again and again, but manager Matt Quatraro seeks to keep the bench guys sharp. No one is getting buried as the 26th man. Canha will play semi-regularly and the best position for him would be as a platoon partner for Melendez.

Besides, at this point, JJ Picollo needs to add someone—anyone—to the outfield mix in an attempt to improve production. Stymied this winter in his attempts to add an outfielder, this was likely his best option at the most favorable cost to the team at this point in the spring. Canha doesn’t launch the Royals outfield collective into a top 10 bunch or even a top 20. But it does marginally improve the group and that’s probably the best that can be done at the moment.

As far as roster construction goes, I think the Canha deal means Nick Lofton opens the year in Omaha. The right-handed hitting Loftin still has two options remaining and suddenly the Royals bench tilts very much right-handed. The expectation here is that Cavan Biggio will claim a spot as the utility guy to open the season. That will give the Royals a bench of Freddy Fermin as the backup catcher, Dairon Blanco as the pinch runner, Biggio as the guy who can play all over the infield (and the outfield) and then Canha as a platoon bat. It’s honestly a much more cohesive bench this way.

On Saturday, we learned that Daniel Lynch IV would open the season in the bullpen, meaning Kris Bubic prevailed in the battle for the fifth starter. As I speculated in this space last week, it appears that while Bubic won the final spot in the rotation; he will slot in as the fourth starter once the season opens. Michael Wacha is scheduled to start on Monday as the Royals play against the Rangers in Arlington with Bubic to follow on the finale of the exhibition season on Tuesday.

Anne Rogers reported that with Lynch as a reliever, this is how the bullpen looks:

Lucas Erceg
Carlos Estévez
Hunter Harvey
Sam Long
Daniel Lynch IV
John Schrieber
Chris Stratton
Angel Zerpa

The absence of Carlos Hernández means that the right-hander would be exposed to waivers as he was out of options and could not be sent to the minor leagues without first clearing said waivers. He was ultimately picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hernández finishes his Royals career with a 4.95 ERA covering 256.1 innings of work. He struck out just over 20 percent of hitters faced and walked 11 percent. The strikeout rate was far too low given his stuff (or I should say, his potential stuff) and the walk rate was far too high. He packs triple-digit heat and while he’s always been a useful arm out of the bullpen, he’s been a highly undependable one. Hernández seems more suited to a relief role on a team searching for arms to play out the schedule rather than a team looking to make a run at the postseason.

I think it says something that Hernández almost made it through waivers. Waiver claims are made in reverse order of winning percentage and the Phillies finished last year with 95 wins, second only to the Dodgers. I don’t think he will be finishing the season in Philly.

I get the fact there will be some unhappiness around Chris Stratton opening the year in the bullpen with the Royals, but again…It’s a numbers and money game. Stratton exercised his player option and will earn $4.5 million in 2025. The Royals will want to see if they can get anything out of him, but I expect the leash to be short.

While newcomer Canha still isn’t on the 40-man roster, the Royals made other moves over the weekend to free space. Well, not necessarily to free space…These were moves they had to make as neither Nelson Velázquez nor Nick Pratto were going to make the Opening Day roster. Like Hernández, both players are out of options. Unlike Hernández, neither was claimed and they were ultimately outrighted to Omaha, where they will open the season.

Even so, I would be surprised if either appeared in Kansas City this summer. They would need to be added back to the 40-man and given their current status and how the Royals avoided calling either up late last year, I just don’t see a path forward for either in this organization.