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It is time for the Royals to cut bait with the older arms in the bullpen

Jason Hammel entered Sunday afternoon’s game with the Cardinals nursing a one-run lead in the seventh inning after a terrific start by Jake Junis. Hammel had been unceremoniously demoted to the bullpen in early July due to a poor performance, and while he had given up fewer runs since his demotion with an ERA of 3.48 going into Sunday’s game, he had still been hammered with opponents hitting .302/.348/.535 against him as a reliever. Hammel promptly gave two singles, walked a batter, than gave up an RBI single to Cardinals rookie Patrick Wisdom, all without recording an out.

Hammel is still on this roster in mid-August, along with other bullpen disasters like Blaine Boyer and Brandon Maurer.