Major League Baseball

Royals release Cruz, make 3 other moves

Published Apr. 24, 2010 12:15 a.m. ET

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Kansas City had one of the worst bullpens in baseball last year, a group that gave Royals fans an impending sense of doom with nearly every pitch.

When it started happening again this season, the Royals weren't going to put up with it for very long.

Their patience lasted less than three weeks.

Fed up with the lack of production from their relievers, the Royals released right-hander Juan Cruz and made three other moves on Friday in an attempt to revamp a bullpen that's again one of the worst in baseball.

``We felt like we'd been giving guys plenty of opportunities the first couple of weeks in the season,'' Royals manager Trey Hillman said. ``I think anyone who's watched us play realizes if we'd have gotten some better performances out of our bullpen our record could be flip-flopped and our record could be above .500 instead of below .500.''

The Royals made one move in the 'pen last week, replacing Roman Colon with fellow right-hander Josh Rupe.

That didn't do the trick, so Kansas City designated right-hander Luis Mendoza for assignment and filled the open spots with lefty journeyman Bruce Chen and right-hander Brad Thompson, two non-roster invitees to spring training.

But the clearest this-isn't-working message came with the release of Cruz, who was signed to a two-year, $6 million free-agent contract in February, 2009.

A bounce-around player who had decent success in parts of three seasons with Arizona before arriving in KC, the 31-year-old Dominican was expected to bridge the gap from the rest of the bullpen to All-Star closer Joakim Soria.

Instead, he labored through the 2009 season, blowing three straight saves during one stretch on his way to a 5.72 ERA. Cruz wasn't much better this year, allowing all six inherited runners to score and a .391 batting average against in 5 1-3 innings.

Even with that guaranteed deal, the Royals figured it was time to break ties with Cruz.

``Anytime you make a move, whether it's guaranteed money or not, it says we prefer to win now instead of giving games away because of lack of performance,'' Royals manager Trey Hillman said. ``We've made adjustments to our bullpen in the first couple of weeks in the season and I think that sends a pretty clear message to everyone.''

Kansas City certainly needs something different.

The Royals had a miserable time out of the bullpen last season, blowing 22 saves and allowing 45 percent of inherited baserunners to score on the way to a baseball-worst 5.02 ERA.

It's been even worse this year.

The Royals have already blown four saves, including the first three games of the season, and their 6.95 ERA is second-worst in baseball, a few percentage points behind Arizona.

Soria has done his job, for the most part, saving four games with a 1.50 ERA. The Royals just need to find a way to get him the ball.

``Something needed to change,'' Hillman said. ``Changing some things up gives us better options to get to Soria at the back end.''

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