Royals sign Juan Cruz

February 28, 6:00 PMMLB ExaminerAlex Brown

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The Kansas City Royals have signed free agent relief pitcher Juan Cruz to a two-year, $6M deal.  Cruz is an eight-year major league veteran who has spent the past three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He has gone unsigned all winter due to his status as a Type A free agent, which forces any team that signs him to surrender a first round draft pick in the upcoming amateur draft.

Cruz will join Kyle Farnsworth as new pitchers in the Royals bullpen, setting up for closer Joakim Soria.  Cruz has excelled in this role for Arizona, posting a 2.61 ERA and striking out 71 batters in 51 and 2/3 innings pitched.  He was excellent in the late innings for Arizona, with his only shortcoming being a bit of wildness – he walked 31 batters in 2008.  If not for his Type A status, he would have surely drawn more interest.

That said, this signing doesn’t make sense to me – a rebuilding team like Kansas City does not need to be giving up any draft picks for a player like Cruz, who probably won’t put the Royals over the top in 2009.  While he has performed well in the past two years, he was not successful in his last stint in the American League when he posted a 7.44 ERA for Oakland in 2005.  Perhaps they will be able to deal him at the trade deadline if they’re out of the race.  The Diamondbacks will get a nice haul in the 2009 draft, receiving supplemental picks for losing Cruz and Orlando Hudson.