Royals sign recently released ex-Braves, Cubs pitcher with ugly 7.63 ERA

11 hours ago 1

The Kansas City Royals made a signing for their bullpen depth on Monday.

According to the New York Post's Jon Heyman, left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer has agreed to a minor league contract with the Royals.

Bummer was released by the Atlanta Braves in May after he allowed 13 earned runs in 15.1 innings.

The Chicago Cubs took a flier on the 32-year-old shortly after, but opted out of his minor league deal with the NL Central club after throwing just six combined innings between the Arizona Complex League and Triple-A Iowa.

Bummer's four-seam fastball velocity with the Braves averaged just 90.5 mph. Still, he induced ground balls at a 46.2% rate.

No-risk move for Royals

"For the Royals, there’s no real risk in sending Bummer to Omaha to see what happens. He is making $9.5MM this year, but Atlanta is on the hook for that after releasing him," Darragh McDonald of MLB Trade Rumors wrote.

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"If the Royals decide to call him up, they would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what Atlanta pays," he added.

Bummer's numbers have been in decline ever since he posted a 216 ERA+ with 60 strikeouts in 67.2 innings for the Chicago White Sox in 2019.

But without the Royals firmly out of the postseason race, they really don't have anything to lose with this deal.