Royals part ways with veteran who’s among All-Star voting leaders
At this time last season, veteran second baseman Omar Infante was the leading vote getter among second baseman on the AL All-Star ballot.
He’s not doing too bad this season either. As we learned on Tuesday, he’s currently third among AL second baseman with 711,439 votes. That puts him ahead of past All-Stars in bigger markets such as Boston’s Dustin Pedroia and Detroit’s Ian Kinsler.
Unfortunately for Infante, the voting process isn’t always the most telling in terms of player production. That proven in painful fashion on Wednesday, when Infante was designated for assignment by the Kansas City Royals, which effectively means he’s out of work.
The Royals have 10 days to put Infante on waivers, trade him, release him or send him to the minors. For all intents and purposes though, his days in Kansas City are over. The Royals have decided to move forward mixing and matching Christian Colon and Whit Merrifield at second base, which gives manager Ned Yost younger and fresher options.
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Of course, there are several interesting layers to this story. That includes the financial burden Infante’s contract will continue to have on the Royals. Despite basically cutting ties, the Royals will still be on the hook for roughly $14 million. That includes more than half of his $7.75 million salary this season, plus $8 million in 2017. There’s also a $2 million buyout for the 2018 season.
“It’s a mistake you don’t like to make,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “You don’t like to spend money unnecessarily. You make these types of commitments, sometimes they don’t work out. You are paid and evaluated so they will work out. It’s expected to work out when you make that type of commitment.
“But again, at the end of the day, if we’re going to play [Christian] Colon and we’re going to play Merrifield and we’ve got other options, it’s not fair to Omar, it’s not fair to the other 24 players on the roster, it’s not fair to Ned and the coaching staff, and it’s not fair to our fans. And ultimately I’m accountable for those decisions.”
Despite hitting only 238/.269/.328 with eight home runs and 11 stolen bases over 1,179 plate appearances during his shorter than expected stay in Kansas City, Infante must have won the heart of Royals fans. Well, that, or they truly redefined the meaning of ballot stuffing.
Fortunately, baseball fans elsewhere righted that wrong last season, ultimately voting in Houston’s Jose Altuve instead. Altuve is in the driver seat again this season, and currently has more than a 500,000 vote lead on Infante, meaning we won’t have an awkward or undeserving player suiting up in the 2016 mid-summer classic.
That’s good news for baseball fans, but it’s still a rough set of circumstances for Omar Infante.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
