The Royals will be signing free agents to cheap contracts this off-season. The Royals are interested in adding a starting pitcher to the mix. Will they add a bullpen arm? I hope they do. Not only do I think they need to add a bullpen arm, but a left handed reliever. The past few seasons the Royals have struggled to find reliable bullpen arms. The best examples of that are the Brad Boxberger and Wily Peralta signings. Many Royals fans probably disagree with me on this, and would say Ian Kennedy should be on that list. In my opinion, I believe Kennedy did a good job in the Royals bullpen in 2020 as their closer. In fact, the Royals have reportedly shown interest in bringing Ian Kennedy back for 2021. Even if the Royals bring back Kennedy and Holland next season, I believe they need to add another veteran bullpen arm. I think there are many relievers the Royals could target this off-season, and this includes T.J. McFarland. Last season McFarland posted a 4.35 ERA with the Athletics while pitching in 23 games with Oakland. If the Royals do sign him, I believe he will get a minor league deal, and this will be another low risk, high reward type of signing for the boys in blue. If the Royals sign him, I am hopeful he can return to his 2018 form. In 2018, McFarland posted a 2.00 ERA with the Diamondbacks. In 2018, the Diamondbacks relied on McFarland pretty heavily. During the 2018 season, McFarland appeared in 47games and struck out 42 batters. After the 2018 season, McFarland struggled. Beginning in 2019, McFarland was unable to keep his ERA under 4.00. In 2019, he posted a 4.82 ERA, and I would call that a middle of the road ERA. In 2020 however, he did improve his ERA from 4.82 to a 4.35. In 2021, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcfartj01.shtml projects McFarland to post an ERA of 4.17. I would say that is a pretty good ERA. I believe the Royals could get McFarland to sign a minor league deal to help out the bullpen in 2021. Even if the Royals don’t sign McFarland, I believe they will be shopping for players that are looking to have a bounce back season.
