(espn/ap) The Kansas City Royals have selected the contract of former All-Star closer Trevor Rosenthal and designated pitcher Eric Skoglund for assignment.
Rosenthal ranked second in MLB with 48 saves while with the St Louis Cardinals in 2015 but has been sidetracked by injuries and ineffectiveness in recent years.
The 29-year-old missed the entire 2018 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and recorded a 13.50 ERA in 22 appearances with the Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers last season.
Signed to a minor league contract by Kansas City in December, Rosenthal threw five scoreless innings across five spring training appearances to earn a spot on the 40-man roster.
Skoglund was a combined 2-11 with a 6.61 ERA in 27 appearances (22 starts) with Kansas City from 2017-19 and began last season serving an 80-game suspension for violating MLB’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.
The Royals were scheduled to open the season today in Chicago against the White Sox.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter and said playing the full 162 game schedule is not likely.
The ideas, Manfred said, include an increase in doubleheaders, and he did not rule out the seven-inning variety, though players could object because that would further cut into their statistical output.
Other possibilities, sources said, include a neutral-site World Series — to allow the regular season to stretch into October and the championship series to be held in a warm-weather city — and an expanded playoff system.
