Athletics-Royals preview
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When the Oakland Athletics open a four-game series on Monday night at Kansas City, they will be sans Billy Butler, who was released Sunday.
Butler was a 2012 All-Star, hitting .313 with 29 home runs and 107 RBI that season with the Royals, who drafted him in the first round in 2004. Butler played with Kansas City from 2007 to 2014 and was the designated hitter on the team that won the 2014 American League championship.
Butler became a free agent after the 2014 season and signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the A's but hit a career low .251 last season. This year, he was relegated to mostly DH duty against left-handed pitchers.
Butler had only a dozen at-bats since Aug. 17 and was in a 1-for-15 funk when released.
"I knew it was a possibility because I wasn't playing," Butler said. "It's been like that all year. They're the ones that make the decision. I know that now that Coco's (Crisp, trade to Cleveland) gone, I was the highest paid player. They're not going to let guys making that much just sit around and not make a move eventually.
"I've been in this game long enough to know that moves like these happen. Unfortunately, the last two seasons as a team it has not gone the way as expected. Your higher paid players end up taking the brunt of that because I was expected to come in to keep this organization where it was at."
A's general manager David Forst said "this was the right time to move on" without Butler.
"It's something we've discussed," Forst said. "With a lot of the younger players here now, potentially more coming once Nashville's done, the at-bats just weren't there. It's time to move our focus beyond.
"Obviously, he didn't perform last year up to what we expect, and then coming into this year it was tough for him to ever get going. We made some moves this last offseason that took away from some of his opportunities this year. There were times, frankly, right before the incident with him and Danny (Valencia clubhouse fight) when he was swinging the bat well. He obviously still has ability. It just wasn't going to be a fit here."
The A's are 13-27 in their past 40 games and have dropped to a season-worst 22 games below .500 after a 3-2 loss Sunday to the Seattle Mariners. Overall, the A's are 60-82, assuring them of a losing record in back-to-back years.
Three other former Royals with the A's are Brett Eibner, who had a RBI triple Sunday; Ryan Madson, a reliever who suffered the loss Sunday, and Valencia.
The defending World Series champion Royals shut out the White Sox 2-0 on Sunday to complete a 4-2 trip to Chicago and Minnesota. They remain on the fringe of the wild-card race, but they'll need a great eight-game homestand against the A's and White Sox to stay viable in the postseason hunt.
The Royals' Ned Yost is one victory shy of 1,000 in his managerial career.
"Win two series on the road, which was big," Yost said. "We've got to win series. Each win is crucial right now. It feels good when you match up against a guy like Chris Sale and end up on the winning side of it. Just keep grinding them out and keep winning ballgames."
Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales homered for the only runs off Sale, but that was enough for Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy and the bullpen. Wade Davis logged his 24th save of the season.
"Definitely huge," Hosmer said to capture the series at Chicago. "We needed this. We need every series from here on out, and every game is huge. We'll head back home. We play good in Kansas City. We'll see if we can take it a day at a time against Oakland and get things shaken up here at the end."
Royals right-hander Dillon Gee will start the series opener, his 14th start and 30th outing of the season. He is 0-2 with a 6.39 ERA in three career outings, including two starts against Oakland.
The A's will start left-hander Ross Detwiler, who is 1/3 with a 5.06 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance since called up from Triple-A Nashville.
Detwiler has faced the Royals once, on May 14, 2015, while with the Texas Rangers. He took the loss, allowing three runs, nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts in five innings.
