PHOENIX – The Royals made it to the World Series as the wild card and now they just might be the wild card in the Yasmany Tomas sweepstakes.
Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore said: “We are interested in [Tomas] and other players internationally.”
But Tomas, in particular, intrigues the Royals. They need a right fielder. In the best of all worlds, the right fielder would hit in the middle of the order. And as opposed to, say, signing a qualified-offer free agent such as Melky Cabrera, the Royals would not lose their first-round pick if they were to ink Tomas.
Kansas City is said not to see Tomas as having as the same advanced hitting skill as Jose Abreu, the big Cuban bat from last offseason. However, Tomas just turned 24 last week and is viewed as having room to improve. Also, Tomas’ outfield defense is considered adequate-to-good, but nothing special.
The question will be the price. The expectation is Tomas will exceed the $72.5 million record for a Cuban player that Boston gave Rusney Castillo in a seven-year contract. The Royals are leery if they could win the bidding against teams such as the Phillies, especially if the dollar figure reaches $100 million or more.
But Tomas’ age and potential make him an alluring gamble. It is expected Cabrera will receive a contract at least for four years at $52 million, and the Royals are known to like the switch-hitter, who played for them in 2011. They also are mulling free agent veteran Torii Hunter.
Royals officials also shot down the level of interest the club has in Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard. Kansas City was seen as a potential fit for Howard as a DH if the Phillies were willing to pay down a significant percentage of the two years at $60 million the fallen slugger is owed.
But the Royals are more interested presently in bringing back Billy Butler to DH or leaving the slot open for several of their players to share.