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Royals sign Mike Montgomery, non-tender four players

Posted at 7:46 PM, Dec 02, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-02 20:46:23-05

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals announced tonight that the club has signed left-handed pitcher Mike Montgomery to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration.

Per club policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The Royals also announced that they will not tender Major League contracts to infielders Humberto Arteaga, Cheslor Cuthbert and Erick Mejia and right-handed pitcher Jesse Hahn.

Montgomery, 30, was acquired by the Royals on July 15 from the Chicago Cubs and made 13 starts over the final two-plus months of the season.

The lefty, who was selected by KC in the first round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, went 2-7 with a 4.64 ERA (33 ER in 64.0 IP) with the Royals, after making 20 relief appearances with the Cubs in 2019.

Arteaga, 25, made his big league debut on June 20 and played in 41 games with the Club in 2019, batting .197 with four doubles and 11 runs scored. He made 31 of his 33 starts with KC at shortstop, with the other two coming at second base.

Cuthbert, 27, was selected from Omaha (AAA) on May 31 and appeared in 87 games with the Royals over the final four months of the year. He batted .246 with 14 doubles, nine homers and 40 RBI, seeing time at both first base and third base.

Hahn, 30, returned to the Majors after a two-plus year absence, recovering from UCL repair surgery. He made his first appearance with KC on September 5 vs. Detroit and pitched in six games out of the Royals’ bullpen after spending a majority of the year on the 60-day Injured List.

Mejia, 25, was the 2019 Omaha Player of the Year, batting .271 with 22 doubles, six triples, seven homers and 83 runs scored. He made his big league debut on September 5 and played in nine games with the Royals, batting .227 with a double and four RBI.

Following tonight’s transactions, the Royals have 36 players on their Major League Reserve List.