FanPost

End of the Kenny Ray Era

Last offseason's first free agent acquisition, former Brave and probably all-around good guy Kenny Ray, is no longer a Royal of any kind.  From the Star:

"The Royals also released veteran reliever Kenny Ray from Omaha after promoting right-hander Greg Atencio from Wichita.

Ray, 32, was claimed last October on waivers from Atlanta, but he landed at Omaha after failing to win a big-league job in spring training. Ray was 3-4 with a 4.15 ERA and four saves in 35 games.

Atencio, 26, was 4-7 with a 5.29 ERA at Wichita in 32 games. He had a rough Class AAA initiation Saturday, when he allowed three runs and four hits in four innings in Omaha's 11-4 loss to Albuquerque."

Once upon a time, everybody had Ray penciled into their projected bullpens because, being a former Brave, it was assumed he would be a Moore guy and would get some kind of preference out of that.  But, alas, Ray never appeared in Kansas City and now gets replaced in Omaha by somebody who appears to only possess more "upside" by being six years younger and who, frankly, I've never heard of, despite the fact that he's been in the Royals organization since 2002.  After starting his career with the Royals Spokane affiliate of the Northwest League (that's been awhile) and posting career highlights of playing parts of THREE seasons with the Burlington Bees and posting a sub-4.00 ERA in 12 games in High Desert in 2006, Atencio climbs the ladder to Omaha sporting a lifetime 27-37 record, a 5.39 ERA, a 1.46 WHIP, and a 396/203 K/BB ratio.

Ah, Kenny, we hardly knew ye, but we can rest well knowing the future is in the hands of pitchers like Greg Atencio.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.