The Kansas City Royals finally told fantasy baseball owners what they have been wanting to hear since Joakim Soria was first injured weeks ago in spring training. Ned Yost, the team’s manager, announced that his first choice out of the bullpen will be Jonathan Broxton with an ability to rely on Greg Holland if Broxton is tired or ineffective.
Broxton has definitely played the closer role in the past and his signing this offseason is now fortuitous given the need in the pen for his presence. The Royals would likely do just fine with Holland in the role instead, but having the two to anchor the backside of the pen will work well for a Royals starting staff that will likely force the bullpen to provide a lot of innings.
Yost also clarified the rest of the bullpen roles and what fans can expect there:
“The roles will define themselves, but that’s how we’re starting it. We’re starting with Broxton closing it out, Holland in the eighth and then we’ll have [Jose] Mijares, [Aaron] Crow, [Tim] Collins and [Kelvin] Herrera [as the] guys from the third inning on to the seventh inning. By that, I mean I’ve told them I want them focused in on the game from the third inning on. Because if we get in trouble in the third or fourth inning, I’m going to bring one of those guys in to stop the bleeding and then put [Everett] Teaford in the game to get us to our backend guys.”
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