January 2016

The Royals have announced that they’ve signed corner outfielder Travis Snider to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite. Snider is a client of CAA Sports. Snider, who will turn 28 this week, batted .232/.313/.350 in 265 plate appearances split between the Orioles and Pirates in 2015. The Orioles sent two pitching prospects…

The Yankees and Red Sox are among the seven teams this offseason that kept their closer but also added another team’s closer, ESPN’s Jayson Stark writes. “It’s been the wave. Let’s face it,” says Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who made a huge trade for Craig Kimbrel in November. “A lot of clubs have improved the depth in…

Athletics catcher Stephen Vogt will likey miss four to six weeks after elbow surgery, MLB.com’s Jan Lee tweets. He is still expected to be good to go for the start of the season, though he’ll be delayed in getting going this spring. Here are a few more notes from around the American League: Doug Fister’s MRI with the Astros…

11:40am: MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets that if Kennedy does opt out after two years, he receives a $6MM buyout, so he would actually be opting out of three years and $43MM, as opposed to three years and $49MM. 11:17am: After reportedly agreeing to a deal nearly two weeks ago, the Royals announced on Friday that they have…

The Royals have designated right-hander Louis Coleman in order to clear a roster spot for fellow righty Ian Kennedy, whose five-year contract with Kansas City is now official, per MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (on Twitter). Coleman, who will turn 30 on April 4, tossed just three innings for the Royals in 2015 but had been a regular…

Alex Gordon explained his decision to return to the Royals in an appearance today on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter links via host Casey Stern). Interestingly, he noted that “it was a difficult offseason being a free agent,” perhaps referencing the large number of high-quality players that joined him on the market. Ultimately, while other…

Here today’s minor transactions from around the league, all coming courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise noted… Former Cubs right-hander Rafael Dolis, who spent the 2015 season with the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate and re-signed with Detroit after the season, has now been released to sign with the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball…

One of the keys to the Royals’ success is their chemistry, Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos tells FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi. “What the Royals do so good, is they’re very good at coming together. They know how to win,” Castellanos says. Part of the key, from Castellanos’ perspective, is that the Royals’ core has been in the same…