Royals, Young having 'encouraging' talks regarding return
The Kansas City Royals enjoyed a boost provided by veteran right-hander Chris Young down the stretch in 2015, and they're hoping to retain his services for next season.
MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan wrote on Tuesday that the club and the tall pitcher were having 'encouraging' talks about signing him to a contract and preventing him from heading elsewhere.
After the Royals won the World Series, Young expressed interest in staying in town - and GM Dayton Moore has a similar perspective:
"We're hoping perhaps something can get done," Moore said. "You can make the case that Chris was the MVP of our pitching staff. He performed many roles for us and performed at a high level.
"He is a high-character guy and a very competitive player. He is always well prepared and gives everything he has."
Given the Royals' need for stability in a starting staff that was largely piecemeal for most of the 2015 season, Young would be one of the arms on which manager Ned Yost would be able to rely. In 34 regular season appearances for K.C. in '15, Young went 11-6 with a 3.06 ERA. He carried that over into the postseason, coming up big in the Royals' victories in Game 1 and Game 4.
