Michael

Lorenzen

Confirming the signing. Lorenzen stays put after ending last season with seven appearances, including six starts, with Kansas City. He should be back in the rotation initially this year, and if he can come close to matching last year’s 3.31 ERA, he’ll stay there. However, last year’s 97/60 K/BB in 130 1/3 innings wasn’t encouraging at all.

Passan adds that the deal also includes a $12 million mutual option for 2026. Lorenzen has been a quality back-end rotation stabilizer the past few years but doesn’t offer a ton of fantasy appeal at this stage of his career. The 33-year-old veteran right-hander posted a strong 3.31 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 97/60 K/BB ratio across 130 1/3 innings (26 appearances, 24 starts) last year between the Rangers and Royals. He’ll bolster Kansas City’s starting rotation depth heading into 2025.

The idea isn’t necessarily for Lorenzen to see much time at the plate, it’s to potentially circumvent the limit of 13 pitchers that each MLB team is allowed to carry on their roster. If Lorenzen appears in 20 games in the outfield or as a designated hitter (and gets at least three plate appearances in each), he would gain two-way status for the 2025 season and the following year, giving the team that signs him extra roster flexibility. It’s a small wrinkle, sure, but one that could be intriguing to teams that are interested in the additional roster maneuverability.

Lorenzen was returning from a strained hamstring tonight, and we’re guessing that’s the problem again, given that he didn’t seem to be troubled by his arm before walking off the mound. Daniel Lynch IV replaced him against the Rangers.

Lorenzen is returning from a strained hamstring to face the Nationals tonight.

Lorenzen will be returning from a hamstring strain that he suffered at the end of August. Quatraro also mentioned that Alec Marsh will move to the bullpen. Lorenzen has a 3.42 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 92 strikeouts in 126 innings on the season.

The exact wordage was “on track” so there’s no guarantee that Lorenzen gets the rehab start, but it seems likely. The 32-year-old was placed on the injured list at the end of the August, so if things go well in that rehab outing — assuming it happens, of course — he has a chance to make his start after that with the Royals.

The Royals placed Lorenzen on the 15-day IL on August 29th and put a two- to three-week timeline on his return at that point. Up to now, Lorenzen has not thrown a bullpen yet as the team waits for his muscle to fully heal, but he has been keeping his arm in shape by playing catch. Until he throws a bullpen, it’s impossible to know exactly how long he’ll be out.

Lorenzen was officially placed on the injured list prior to Wednesday’s game against the Guardians after exiting his start on Tuesday night with a left hamstring strain. Given the timing of the injury, he’s probably going to miss the majority, if not all, of the final month of the regular season.

The fact it’s already been labeled a hamstring strain by the Royals means Lorenzen is a pretty strong bet to wind up requiring a trip to the injured list. The 32-year-old veteran right-hander suffered the injury during the second inning of Tuesday’s start against the Guardians while covering the first-base bag. There should be an additional update on his status following the contest.