Royals Trade Jonathan Broxton To The Reds For Two Minor League Players

The Royals made a move to improve their future yesterday, trading closer Jonathan Broxton to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for minor league pitchers J.C. Sulbaran and Donnie Joseph. Greg Holland is expected to fill Broxton’s role as closer for the Royals for the remainder of the regular season.

Sulbaran, a 22-year-old right-hander, was the Reds 30th round draft pick in 2008. The Plantation, FL native is 25-24 with a 4.68 ERA in the minor leagues. While these numbers won’t wow Royals fans, he does have 449 strikeouts in 413 professional innings. Also interesting to note is that Sulbaran was a high school teammate of Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer. Joseph, a 24-year-old left, was the Red’s third round pick in the 2009 draft. He is 16-14 with a 3.50 ERA in four minor league seasons, and has converted 54 saves.

Broxton has pitched well for the Royals this season, but will be somewhat expendable next season with the return of former All Star Joakim Soria. Broxton will likely be used as a set-up man for closer Aroldis Chapman, similar to the role he was original slated to do in Kansas City. Reds manager Dusty Baker may use Broxton for save situations when Chapman could use some rest. Broxton gets to go from a team that is 41-60 and in last place to the Reds, who have the second-best record in the majors and currently sit in first place.

For the Royals, this move makes sense. The team will not have much of a need for Broxton after the season, and he would be expensive to resign as a free agent after pitching at an All Star level for much of the 2012 season. The team did what it could to replace Broxton with two young arms, and hopefully either Sulbaran or Joseph develops into a capable major league pitcher. Kansas City didn’t have many options, so stocking up with two young players for the future seems like a steal, given the situation.

Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Walks Once Again Doom Royals In Loss To Angels

The Royals’ pitching staff has struggled all season long, particularly with allowing walks. The team leads the American League with 344 walks this season, and two key walks ended up being difference makers in the team’s 6-3 loss to the LA Angels last night.

Midway through the game, Kansas City was locked in a tight 2-2 draw, thanks to RBIs early in the game from Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain. However, once the sixth inning hit, the Royals’ shaky pitching once again reared its ugly head. Howie Kendrick drew a leadoff walk, and then scored on a single by Maicer Izturis. After the Royals tied the game again when Bryan Pena drove in Eric Hosmer, Kansas City’s Greg Holland sunk the team’s chances with an awful walk in the eighth. The Royals had already gotten two outs in the inning, and Holland faced Peter Bourjos, who entered the at-bat with a measly .223 batting average. Holland walked Bourjos on four straight pitches, and then gave up a three-run single to Kendrys Morales that essentially was the ball game.

The Royals have been walking batters an alarming rate this season, and once it again it came back to haunt them in a crucial situation. Holland’s mistake wasted a decent outing from Chen, who gave up three runs and give hits in 5 1/3 innings. Chen is now 0-2 with a 9.25 ERA in his last five starts, after a hot streak in which he went 7-2 over his previous 10 outings.

Kansas City will face the Angels in LA again tonight at 9:05 p.m. Will Smith (1-3) will start for the Royals, while Garrett Richards (3-1) will take the mound for the Angels.

Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.