Kansas City is adding pitching bodies ahead of the deadline, and the latest name is one baseball fans have seen cut loose more times than they can count lately: Vince Velasquez. MLB Trade Rumors confirmed the signing, sending the veteran righty to minor league camp as the Royals restock a farm system that's about to feel the trade deadline crunch.
MLB Trade Rumors broke the news that Kansas City had inked Velasquez to a minors deal.
This is not a feel-good reclamation project out of nowhere. Velasquez has been MLB property and then not-MLB-property on a loop in 2026. He signed a minors deal with the Cubs back in February, got a call-up at the end of April, threw 2 1/3 shutout innings against the Dodgers, and got DFA'd anyway. Chicago brought him back for another cameo in June, he tossed more scoreless innings, and got cut again before the Brewers series wrapped. Two big league appearances, zero runs allowed, zero job security.
Rather than sit around for an outright assignment back to Triple-A Iowa, Velasquez elected free agency at the end of June. That's the move that put him on the open market for the Royals to grab, and Kansas City is stashing him at Triple-A Omaha, where he'll be available as a starter or a long man out of the pen.
It's easy to forget Velasquez was once a top prospect with real helium, dealt from the Astros to the Phillies in the Ken Giles trade and flashing swing-and-miss stuff in Philly for the better part of six seasons. Since then it's been a decade-long tour: 193 career games, 144 starts, a 38-51 record and a 4.86 ERA scattered across seven organizations. He missed all of 2024 recovering from elbow surgery, then spent 2025 pitching for the Lotte Giants in the KBO League and in the Guardians' farm system just trying to get another look.
None of this screams difference-maker, and it isn't supposed to. This is exactly the kind of low-cost, low-risk depth add that contending and rebuilding clubs alike make in bulk every July -- arms who can eat innings in Omaha and get a phone call if something breaks in the big league bullpen during a stretch run. For Velasquez, it's another shot to prove the scoreless innings against the Dodgers weren't a fluke. For the Royals, it's a lottery ticket that costs basically nothing.