Royals sign Francisco Pena; Added to 40-man Roster

It was announced today that the Royals had signed free agent catcher Francisco Pena to a Major League contract.  He will be added to the 40-man roster.  Pena has some family ties with the Royals, as his father, Tony Pena was a former manager of the Royals and is now currently serving as the New York Yankees bench coach.  His brother, Tony Pena, Jr., also a former Royal, played shortstop..and we all know how well that panned out for us!

Since 2007, as a 17 year old, he has spent his professional career in the Minor Leagues for the New York Mets.  With nearly 2,300 plate appearances, he has a career line of .236/.286/.348, 40 HR, 286 RBI, 103 2B, 6 3B, 415 SO, and just 136 BB.  Last season he played 89 games, 68 for Triple-A Las Vegas and 21 for Double-A Binghamton of the Eastern League, hitting a career high .254 at both levels with 9 HR and 39 RBI.  Behind the plate, he managed to throw out just 15 runners, allowing 35 for steals.

With the addition of Pena, the competition for the backup role of Salvador Perez shouldn't change.  Veterans George Kottaras and Brett Hayes are considered the front-runners for the position, which means Francisco will have to work extremely hard to be even considered a legitimate backup.  Basically, this signing doesn't make any sense and was not necessary.

This signing also adds another dilemma: who to protect for the 40-man.  The roster now has 39 players on it, including Francisco Pena.  As Kansas City Star reporter Bob Dutton mentioned in a recent article, the Royals have until Wednesday November 20th to finalize their 40-man roster, otherwise eligible prospects will be made available to other teams in the upcoming Rule-5 Draft.  Instead of choosing 2 players to fill the void, now we're down to just 1 player allowed to be added.  Some of the more notable names to protect are Michael Mariot, Christian Colon, Cheslor Cuthbert, Lane Adams, Brett Eibner, and Brian Fletcher.  We will find out who the lucky 40th member to the roster will be soon enough.

KC Claims Kottaras

The Royals found their 2013 backup catcher by claiming George Kottaras off of waivers this afternoon.  Kottaras designated for assignment by the Oakland A's after he became expendable when they acquired John Jaso in a trade last week.  Before the acquisition of Jaso, Kottaras appeared to be in line for a part time job splitting time with Derek Norris.  Now Kottaras will be the primary back up for Salvador Perez in Kansas City.  Kottaras avoided arbitration with the A's earlier in the winter and will be earning $1 million dollars this season.

The only way Kottaras will see regular playing time with the Royals would be due to an injury from Perez, so clearly Royals fans will prefer to not see too much from Kottaras this season.  He does, however, represent a big upgrade in the back up backstop role over Brett Hayes.  While Kottaras is not known as a great defender behind the plate, he can hold is own and has been a solid catcher for the Red Sox, Brewers, A's over the last few years.

At the plate Kottaras is a three true outcome hitter.  Last season with the Brewers and A's he hit only .211, but got on base 35% of the time thanks to a walk percentage just over 17%.  He also struck out 48 times in his 171 at bats, so he is suspect to the strike out.  Kottaras has more power than most back-up catchers cranking nine homers last season.

It is a low risk pick up by the Royals that certainly helps the major league roster.  Kottaras could be one of the better back-up catchers in baseball this year, and will surely handle his role behind Sal Perez well.