The 2013 baseball season was fairly kind to the Kansas City Royals overall, as the team posted an 86-76 mark that generally exceeded expectations. With that, they had a tremendous bullpen trio in closer Greg Holland and set-up men Aaron Crow and Tim Collins. However, it appears as if the Royals are listening to offers for at least two of their three-headed monster at the back-end.
#Royals relievers Aaron Crow and Tim Collins are "very available" in trades, according to @Royals_Report.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) November 25, 2013
Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (@Royals_Report) is reporting that both Crow and Collins are available on the trade market, and it would appear that the team is trying to save money after spending $32 million to acquire starter Jason Vargas earlier in the week. In 2013, Crow and Collins were both very solid, posting ERA’s of 3.38 and 3.54 respectively, with over 8 strikeouts per 9 innings for both pitchers.
However, both pitchers (Crow is a right-hander and Collins a left-hander) are eligible for arbitration beginning this season, and any MLB fan will tell you that arb. eligibility means an immediate increase in salary. The Royals are blessed with a lock-down closer in Holland at a cheap price, and with that, it makes them a bit more flexible for their other bullpen options.
Finally, Dutton provides this quote in his piece:
"“Those are the guys they’d like to trade,” one rival club official said, “because they’re going to start to make a little bit of money. But the key thing for them is they have a lot of other guys ready to step in…guys who might be even better.”"
Count me as highly skeptical that whoever would replace Crow and/or Collins would be “even better”, but it probably isn’t a stretch to think that they could be replaced fairly easily. Bullpen arms are traditionally overvalued by some organizations, and if they could move either one for a significant haul, it would be wise to do so.