It's Nice to Have Options

The Royals have a very flexible roster because so many players have options for 2024.

Inventory is a baseball word that I think sometimes gets taken in a negative light. When a general manager talks about making a move with inventory in mind, it feels like it’s often about a better player not getting the job because that would mean losing the lesser player. But inventory is also useful over the course of a big league season. Only seven teams used fewer than 50 players in 2023. There were 10 teams to use 57 or more players, including the Royals, who used 58. You are simply not going to get through your big league season without inventory, and having a roster of players with options is huge.

For those who don’t know, when you hear a player has, say, three options, it really means they have three seasons where they can be sent up and down. Option years start once a player is placed on the 40-man roster. If a player isn’t sent down during a season, they don’t use an option and carry that into the next season. There are a couple of caveats here. A new rule from a couple of years ago is that a player can only be optioned five times in a season. And players who reach five years of service time, cannot be sent down without their consent, so they essentially are out of options.

When a player is out of options, the team either has to keep that player or expose them to waivers for any team to claim them. So that’s why the options are important. I know most of you probably knew that, but I think it’s useful to have the background as we get into the discussion.

Where you really want to have options is within your position players and your bullpen because that’s where you’ll see the bulk of the movement throughout the season. In a starting rotation, teams will almost certainly need more than five starters, but it sort of feels like they aren’t sending guys up and down throughout the year if they can avoid it. If you look at the Royals roster, they find themselves in a pretty strong position, even with all the veterans they acquired this winter.

Among position players, Salvador Perez can’t be sent down, which is fine. Hunter Renfroe also can’t, which is also fine. And then there’s Adam Frazier and Garrett Hampson, who were signed to be big leaguers. Everyone else can be sent down, and other than Sandy Leon, there isn’t a position player vying for the roster who is out of options either. And while Bobby Witt Jr. or Vinnie Pasquantino aren’t going anywhere, I think it’s pretty easy to see how any of Dairon Blanco, Freddy Fermin, Maikel Garcia, Tyler Gentry, Kyle Isbel, Nick Loftin, Michael Massey, MJ Melendez, Nelson Velazquez and Drew Waters could spend the year on the I-29 express.

On the pitching staff, Seth Lugo, Jordan Lyles and Michael Wacha are all unable to be demoted. But again, I feel like starting pitchers are a different animal. You’d like to have the flexibility there, but I don’t think it’s as big of a deal. Both Cole Ragans and Brady Singer have options, but if either of those are utilized, there are probably some pretty big problems with the team anyway. In the bullpen, only Chris Stratton and Will Smith can’t be optioned. All the rotation hopefuls who might be in the bullpen - Jonathan Bowlan, Daniel Lynch IV, Alec Marsh, Anthony Veneziano and Angel Zerpa - have options. They can work in the big league bullpen if needed or can fill in the rotation if someone like, oh I don’t know, Lyles needs to be moved to a relief role.

Of actual relievers, all those projected to make the team but Smith and Stratton have options, but also Jake Brentz, Steven Cruz, Will Klein and the new darkhorse, Walter Pennington do. This is where things get a little tricky for the non-roster invites who have a legitimate shot at this club. Dan Altavilla, Luis Cessa, Tyler Duffey and Sam Long all are unable to be optioned if they made the big league club. The injury to Carlos Hernandez that seems likely to at least delay the start of his season makes it possible for them to break with the club, but this is where inventory might actually keep the veteran in the minors if they don’t opt out and the younger player in the big leagues.

I’ll put out a second roster projection next week, but, spoiler alert, as long as he’s healthy John McMillon is going to be in it. Let’s say the final spot in the bullpen is down to him and Duffey. If it’s actually legitimately close, there’s almost no way in my mind that they keep Duffey over McMillon. If Duffey kills it in AAA and McMillon struggles, it’s a lot easier to make that flip than the other way around because you might want to keep Duffey around. Doing this buys some time for an inevitable injury or roster spot to open up. It’s a good position to be in.

I find it pretty interesting that a team like the White Sox, coming off their own 100-loss season, have a lineup full of players who can’t go up and down. Their projected bullpen features all of one reliever with an option. That’s not a great spot to be in, though I guess there’s an argument to be made that a bad team probably doesn’t need to worry about having to DFA people. But still, it’s kind of odd that they’re projected to be so bad, but their 26-man roster that you see on Roster Resource features 17 players who are out of options.

Anyway, here’s where the fun comes in and what big league front offices are looking at every day. There are players on every team who are out of options and could become available if they aren’t going to make the Opening Day roster. More often than not, there are small trades that come together toward the end of spring rather than simply hoping they pass through waivers, and that’s where the Royals could potentially pounce. It would be nice to say that they’re in a spot where they don’t want other teams’ scraps, but they won 56 games last year and no matter how much talk of winning the division there is, it’s a tall task and they need to continue to build.

So with that, let’s take a look at some players who are out of options and aren’t roster locks. Even if they’re on a non-roster deal, they might find themselves available.

Jo Adell, Angels, OF

The Royals aren’t really in the market for an outfielder and if they were, I’d bet they’d like someone a little more proven, but this is a spot where you’d have to at least consider stashing Adell if the Angels decide he’s not good enough for their team. At this point, he’s post-post-post-hype, but there was once a time when Adell was one of the game’s top prospects. To date, he’s been the quintessential AAAA player, but even last season, he hit .273/.375/.586 in 330 AAA plate appearances. He just doesn’t make enough contact, but maybe he can do for the Royals what Ryan O’Hearn did for the Orioles last year. It’s not as if Adell is without talent. I’d take a flyer on him and take advantage of the options on Blanco, Waters and Velazquez.

Yency Almonte, Cubs, RHP

The Cubs got Almonte from the Dodgers as part of the Michael Busch deal. The big righty has been inconsistent in his career, but when he’s been good, he’s been great. He gave up four runs on 18 hits in 35.1 innings for the Dodgers in 2022 with a 1.02 ERA. He has a nasty sweeper and a big fastball and if I’m the Royals and looking to add another veteran arm to the bullpen, there are worse avenues than betting on upside and team control for an extra season with him.

Brandon Bielak, Astros, RHP

You can never have enough pitching, right? Bielak worked largely as a starter last season for the Astros, but I could see him doing well in a relief role. He has a very good changeup and a very good slider, which should allow him to get both sides of the plate out. I’d guess his fastball plays up a bit in a short relief role, but two pitches to get whiffs (and that’s not even mentioning a curve that’s been more effective than the slider) seems like a decent recipe. I’d almost rather take a flyer on Bielak than a guy like Duffey.

Cole Irvin, Orioles, LHP

All the reports out of Baltimore camp are interesting on Irvin with his velocity way up early in camp. And Kyle Bradish and John Means both being hurt to start the year won’t make it likely he misses the cut, but you never know, I suppose. They have a lot of talent in that organization and maybe they’d like to make a flip to open up a 40-man spot for someone better. He’s basically been league average with a 95 ERA+ since 2021 in 436.2 innings with a below-average strikeout rate, but really solid walk rate.

Taylor Trammell, Mariners, OF

Similar to Adell, Trammell was once a top prospect and just hasn’t gotten there at the big league level. But also similar to Adell, he’s hit well in AAA with a .238/.390/.530 line in 391 plate appearances. The strikeouts are too high and he’s a corner outfielder, but this would be a chance to take advantage of those options similar to what I mentioned with Adell. The fit isn’t ideal since Trammell is a lefty and a righty to pair with Melendez or even Isbel would be nice, but if you’re looking for upside, it still exists here.

None of these players are world beaters, though I will always have a soft spot for players who were once highly regarded. But there is an opportunity for the Royals to potentially find some help from teams that may not see what they have in a player because they are able to maintain so much of that inventory with players with options.