The Royals and closer Kelvin Herrera have agreed to a $5,325,000, one-year contract, avoiding arbitration with one of the top relievers in baseball.
Herrera can also earn $50,000 for making the All-Star Game, which he has done the past two seasons.
The 27-year-old right-hander is assuming the closer job after the Royals traded Wade Davis to the Chicago Cubs this offseason. But Herrera has plenty of experience in the role, saving 12 games last season when Davis was dealing with some lingering injuries.
Herrera has a 2.63 ERA over parts of six seasons, and has appeared in at least 70 games each of the past three. His strikeout-to-walk ratio last season was also the best of his career.
Kansas City has signed all of its arbitration-eligible players for this season.
Twins: Byung Ho Park taken off 40-man roster
The Minnesota Twins have designated Korean slugger Byung Ho Park for assignment following a disappointing major league debut as a designated hitter.
The move was made on Friday to clear space on the 40-man roster for right-handed reliever Matt Belisle, who finalized a $2.05 million, one-year contract after posting a career-best 1.76 ERA last season for Washington.
MLB
The 30-year-old Park batted .191 with 12 home runs and 24 RBIs in 62 games last season. The Twins paid his South Korean club, the Nexen Heroes, $12.85 million for negotiating rights to Park, who signed a $12 million, four-year contract with Minnesota.
Belisle pitched 46 innings in 2016 for the Nationals, missing seven weeks in the first half of the season with a strained calf muscle in his right leg.
Rays: Weeks, Carpenter, Rasmus agree to deals
Infielder Rickie Weeks and right-handed relievers Cory Rasmus and David Carpenter have agreed to minor league contracts with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The deals announced Friday include invitations to major league spring training.
The 34-year-old Weeks was the second overall pick in the 2003 amateur draft and is a .247 career hitter over parts of 13 big league seasons with Milwaukee, Seattle and Arizona. He batted .239 with nine homers and 27 RBIs in 108 games with the Diamondbacks last year.
Rasmus is the brother of outfielder Colby Rasmus, who also joined the Rays this offseason. In 2016, he went 0-2 with a 5.84 ERA in 19 appearances with the Los Angeles Angels.
Carpenter, 31, last pitched in the majors in 2015 with the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals.
Mets: Flores is team's first arbitration hearing since 2008
Infielder Wilmer Flores has become the first New York Mets player to go to salary arbitration since Oliver Perez in 2008.
Flores asked for a $2.2 million salary, and the Mets argued for $1.8 million during Friday's hearing. A decision is expected Saturday from arbitrators Mark Irvings, Sylvia Skratek and Robert Herzog.
Originally slated to serve as a backup last season to second baseman Neil Walker, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, third baseman David Wright , Flores appeared in 103 games, had 335 plate appearances and saw time at all four infield positions. He hit .267, matched his career high with 16 homers and had 49 RBIs.
Flores made $526,014 last year and was eligible for arbitration for the first time.
Perez won his hearing in 2008 and made $6.5 million instead of the team's offer of $4,725,000.
Cardinals: No more smokeless tobacco
Baseball players with big wads of chewing tobacco in their cheek are now a thing of the past at Busch Stadium.
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted Friday to prohibit the use of smokeless tobacco products like chewing tobacco, dip and snuff at all sports venues, including Cardinals games at Busch Stadium. The measure provides no exemption for players or anyone else on the field or in the dugouts.
The bill's sponsor, Alderwoman Dionne Flowers, says it sends a message that tobacco shouldn't be associated with sports.
Busch Stadium becomes the 14th Major League Baseball venue where smokeless tobacco is banned. Last month, the city council in St. Petersburg, Florida, banned smokeless tobacco products at all organized sporting events, including Tampa Bay Rays games.