With rosters expanding to 40 players as teams enter the stretch run of the 2014 season, the Kansas City Royals made a slew of roster moves on Monday in attempt to bolster depth with specialists from the organizations’ minor league ranks.
Perhaps the most noteworthy of the September call-ups was the team’s most recent first round selection, left-handed pitcher Brandon Finnegan. The TCU product made 13 appearances between Wilmington and Northwest Arkansas, logging 27.0 innings of work and allowing just just four earned runs (1.33 ERA), while striking out 26 batters and walking four. With regard to Finnegan’s role with the Royals, manager Ned Yost said he’s simply taking things one day at a time.
“We’re going to ease him in his first time or two and see how he does,” said Yost. “All the reports that we got are that this kid can help us. Do I have a plan for how I’m going to use him? No. I’m just going to kind of just do it as we go.”
Yost said that after evaluating pitchers within the organization, Finnegan emerged as a player that could have an impact in the pennant race.
“He’s got good stuff. He’s real competitive and he throws strikes. You know, you go into the last month and, at least from my stand point, you’re always looking to go with the hot hand… We’re looking at all available options up here. When we break it down and look at it, he was one of the best options we had. We’re looking for good arms. We’re looking for guys that we feel can compete up here. He filled all of the prerequisites.”
As for the rest of the teams’ additions, Yost said that each player fits a specific role.
“They all kind of fit a role,” he said. “Lane Adams, we brought him up primarily to pinch run. We’ve got guys in the middle of our order that aren’t real fleet of foot. Lane’s (Lane Adams) a real good defender in the outfield. [Francisco] Pena gives us the option, if we pinch run with Sal, we’re not stuck if something happens to Kratz. It’s just depth. Johnny Giavotella gives us the ability to mix and match. [Carlos] Peguero gives us power. He hit 30 home runs in the minor leagues and he was hot right there at the end and we’re in need of offense. We’re looking at it day to day, and, actually, pitch to pitch.”
Yost will get Peguero involved immediately, plugging the left-handed hitting 27-year-old into the starting lineup this evening.
“You look at Colby Lewis’ numbers and there’s like a 70 point difference between right and left-handed hitters, so we wanted to try to get as many left handed hitters as we could in there,” said Yost. “We sorely need some offense. We’re just looking for a way to score some runs.”
By Kolby Paxton
