Kansas City trimmed seven players from its 40-man roster today by designating them for assignment, including catcher Brayan Pena and right-handers Chris Volstad and Vin Mazzaro.
Pena has been the Royals’ backup catcher for the past four seasons, but hasn’t hit since a solid showing in 2009 and has a career .248 batting average with a .635 OPS in 335 games at age 31.
Volstad was claimed off waivers from the Cubs last month, but at the time I noted that it was odd because the Royals seemingly shouldn’t want to keep him at his likely $2-3 million arbitration price for 2013. It turns out they didn’t.
Mazzaro was acquired from the A’s for David DeJesus in November of 2010, but he’s been terrible for the Royals with a 6.22 ERA and 36/34 K/BB ratio in 72 innings.
Other Royals roster cuts: Left-hander Ryan Verdugo, catcher Adam Moore, first baseman Clint Robinson, and outfielder Derrick Robinson.