36-year old righty reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta has a $4 million dollar option for this season but his agent shouldn’t even make the call to see if the Royals will pick it up. He will receive a $500,000 buyout and he should wear a ski mask when he cashes that check because he robbed the poor Royals. Yabuta pitched in 12 games (0 starts) for the Royals this season and he was 2-1 with a 13.50 ERA and a 2.57 WHIP. In two years with the Royals, Yabuta pitched in 43 games (0 starts) for the Royals and he was 3-4 with a 7.14 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP. He should just go back to Japan where he can get some hitters out.

UPDATE: The Royals have declined Yasuhiko Yabuta’s option for the 2010 season.

26-year old righty starting pitcher Luke Hochevar is getting worse with experience. That’s not the way things are supposed to work. He has pitched in 24 games (22 starts) for the Royals this season and he is 7-12 with a 6.24 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. He has allowed 163 hits (20 of which are homers) in only 140 innings this season. The Royals need to bring in some veterans next spring and make Hochevar earn a spot in the starting rotation as he was pathetic this year.

The Royals have shut down 28-year old righty starting pitcher Brian Bannister due to shoulder fatigue. Bannister started 26 games for the Royals this season and he was 7-12 with a 4.73 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. In his last six starts, however, Bannister was 0-5 with a 9.29 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP. This was a good move for both the Royals and Bannister.

It’s amazing to me that righty Sidney Ponson and lefty Bruce Chen are actually in the starting rotation for the Royals. Ponson has pitched in 14 games (9 starts) this season for the Royals and he is 1-7 with a 7.36 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP. Ponson still throws hard but the ball comes off the bats even harder. Bruce Chen doesn’t throw as hard as Ponson but it doesn’t matter because he stinks too. Chen has pitched in 8 games (7 starts) for the Royals this season and he is 0-6 with a 5.73 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. The Royals should give some of their kids chances to fill out the rotation instead of running garbage like Ponson and Chen out there every five days.

This was an easy call by the Royals as Perez was in line to make $9 million bucks in 2008. This will be addition by subtraction for the Royals as Perez was awful for the Royals this year. Perez started 26 games this season for the Royals and he was 8-11 with a 5.57 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. In 137.1 innings this year, Perez allowed 178 hits, walked 50 batters and whiffed 64.