The Royals have traded away two valuable pieces of their bullpen, leaving a gaping hole that general manager Dayton Moore will attempt to fill before spring training.
The Royals sent Leo Nunez to the Marlins in an Oct. 30 trade for slugging first baseman Mike Jacobs. On Nov. 19, the Royals sent Ramon Ramirez to the Red Sox for center fielder Coco Crisp. Nunez and Ramirez were valuable right-handed setup men for closer Joakim Soria. Nunez went 4-1 with a 2.98 ERA in 45 relief appearances. Ramirez was 3-2 and one save with 2.94 ERA in 71 relief appearances.
Moore said "absolutely" finding someone to replace those two relievers is a priority.
"We've weakened our bullpen," Moore said. "We're fortunate to have one of the best closers in the game in Joakim Soria, so we feel good about our potential to rebuild the bullpen. It's one of the trickier situations in baseball, one of the more unpredictable areas of the game, but we do have Joakim at the back end."
Moore points out the Royals lost right-handed setup man David Riske to free agency after the 2007 season but were able to rebuild the bullpen.
"We will not be able to replace Ramon Ramirez and Leo Nunez for what we were paying them and the type of production that they gave us," Moore said. "That's the sacrifice we felt we had to make."
The Royals appear to be OK from the left-handed side in the bullpen with Ron Mahay, John Bale and Jimmy Gobble, but they will be seeking to find a right-handed bridge to Soria, who logged 42 saves in 2008.
