Kansas City tendering Luke Hochevar a contract and then paying him $4.56 million to avoid arbitration was one of the biggest head-scratchers of the offseason because ... well, he’s never been any good.
And now they’re moving him to the bullpen, manager Ned Yost announced today.
Hochevar was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 draft, but he has a 5.39 ERA in 771 innings through age 28 and was awful last season while going 8-16 with a 5.73 ERA in 32 starts.
Not giving him another 32 starts is a good decision and there’s a chance Hochevar’s raw stuff will improve when he’s only asked to throw an inning at a time, but $4.56 million for a reliever with a 5.39 career ERA who’s never pitched out of the bullpen before is all kinds of silly.
