Kansas City Royals Announce Seven Spring Training Invitees and Sign Fourteen Players to Minor League Contracts - MLB

MLN Newswire- www.mlntherawfeed.com- KANSAS CITY, MO (Dec. 5, 2006) - The Kansas City Royals have announced seven players have been invited to Major League Spring Training Camp in Surprise, Ariz. It was also announced that the Royals have signed 14 other players to Minor League contracts. The non-roster invite list includes catchers Jared Price and Damaso Espino, who both spent the 2006 season in the Royals organization. The five players joining the organization include: right-handed pitchers Dewon Brazelton, Roberto Giron and Matt Wright; left-handed pitcher Wayne Franklin and first baseman Graham Koonce. Right-handed pitcher Dewon Brazelton, 26, spent the entire 2006 season in the San Diego Padres organization, splitting his time between the Padres and Triple-A Portland. He also made one rehab start with the Padres rookie-level squad in Arizona. Brazelton went 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA in nine appearances (two starts) for San Diego, making the club out of Spring Training. He spent parts of the previous four seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, including making an Opening Day start in 2005. Brazelton, the Devil Rays former 2001 first-round pick (third overall), has an 8-25 career record with a 6.38 ERA in 63 games, including 43 starts, at the Major League level. Catcher Damaso Espino, 23, played with Wichita (AA) in 2006. A converted infielder, Espino hit .242 with 18 RBI in 54 games for the Wranglers. Espino is entering his fifth year in the Royals organization after being acquired in a trade from the Cincinnati Reds on March 6, 2003. Wayne Franklin, 32, joins the Royals after splitting his 2006 season between the Atlanta Braves and Triple-A Richmond. The left-hander made 11 relief appearances for Atlanta, going 0-0 with a 7.04 ERA. He went 2-3 with four saves and a 2.36 ERA in 35 games (one start) for Richmond. A 36th-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1996, Franklin has compiled a 14-16 career record and a 5.54 ERA in 143 Major League games (40 starts) for the --MORE-- Astros (2000-01), Brewers (2002-03), Giants (2004), Yankees (2005) and Braves (2006). Roberto Giron, 30, went 2-5 with 13 saves and a 4.78 ERA in 47 games (six starts) for Triple-A Round Rock in the Houston Astros organization in 2006. The right-hander was a non-roster invite to Royals Major League Spring Training in 2005, making five relief appearances. Giron was originally signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as a non- drafted free agent on May 20, 1993. Graham Koonce, 31, is a left-handed hitting first baseman who played last season at Triple-A Nashville in the Milwaukee system. He hit .256 with 19 home runs, 16 doubles and 52 RBI in 88 games. Koonce, who has also played in the Tigers, Padres, A's and Pirates organizations, appeared in six games for Oakland in 2003, going 1-for-8 with a double. He was a 60th-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers in the 1993 draft. Catcher Jared Price, 24, hit .158 with four home runs and 12 RBI in just 42 games for Omaha (AAA) in 2006. The Idaho native was selected by the Royals in the Minor League Phase of the 2004 Rule 5 Draft from the Dodgers organization. Right-hander Matt Wright, 24, split his 2006 season between Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Richmond in the Atlanta organization, compiling a 10-8 record and a 3.47 ERA in 25 games (24 starts). Wright had spent his entire professional career in the Braves system after being selected by Atlanta in the 21st round of the 2000 draft. The 14 players signed to a Minor League contract but not invited to Major League Spring Training include seven players who were re-signed by the Royals after finishing the 2006 season in the Kansas City organization. Those players are right-handed pitchers Barry Armitage and Cody Smith, left-handed pitcher Ed Yarnall, and infielders Luis Castillo, Justin Gemoll, Omar Pena and Mike Stodolka. The seven players joining the Royals organization on Minor League deals are right-handed pitchers Leoncio Estrella, Arthur Santos and Martin Vargas, left-handed pitcher Jason Cromer, catcher Cody Clark and outfielders Adam Greenberg and Onil Joseph. The Royals will continue to announce non-roster invites as well as other Minor League signings as they are signed.

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