The Royals have been busy this offseason, and I don’t believe they are done signing players just yet. I think we could see more minor league signings pop up before the beginning of spring training like the Ervin Santana deal. Should the Royals sign another old friend? I think they should. I could see the Royals bring in more pitching for a bullpen spot or minor league depth. Does the name Nathan Karns ring a bell? The Royals acquired Karns from the Mariners for Jarrod Dyson in 2017. The trade obviously didn’t work out for the Royals the way they hoped it would. During his time with the Royals, Karns struggled with injuries. Due to his injury issues, he couldn’t eat up as many innings as the Royals hoped he would. Despite his injury issues I think he did alright for the Royals. I believe the Royals could use Karns in 2021. Karns last pitched in the Orioles organization in 2019. What role would he play in 2021 for the Royals? My hope is he would be able to compete for a long reliever role in spring training. This upcoming spring training will be an exciting one to watch for Royals fans in my opinion because they are looking to compete again. I also think with the Royals having multiple young pitchers heading into 2021, they might not let them eat up a bunch of innings in the big leagues due to no minor league season in 2020, thus not allowing them to develop properly. This does not mean all of the young pitchers aren’t ready for the big leagues, I just think the Royals shouldn’t rush them to the majors and expect them to eat up a lot of innings. I doubt the Royals would expect the young pitchers to eat up 200 innings plus during a long season. This is why I think they should bring in free agent pitchers like Karns to compete for a long reliever role in the bullpen.
