Royals designate Omar Infante for assignment

The Royals have designated second baseman Omar Infante for assignment, as first reported by MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan. The team will now have 10 days to decide on Infante's fate, though his salary means that he will be released by the end of the month.

Infante, 34, has hit just .239/.279/.321 with 11 RBI in 39 games for Kansas City this season, and has been replaced by rookie Whit Merrifield and utilityman Christian Colon at second base.

Infante signed a 4-year, $30.25 million deal with the Royals before the 2014 season, and is owed about $14 million ($8M next season and a $2M buyout for 2018) through the end of his contract. Any team that signs him will be able to do so for the pro-rated portion of the major-league minimum, with Kansas City paying the rest of the tab.

Infante is the latest well-known veteran to be designated in recent weeks, joining Carl Crawford (Dodgers), Mat Latos (White Sox), Jimmy Rollins (White Sox) and Jose Reyes (Rockies).

In 15 major-league seasons with the Tigers (2002-07, 2012-13), Braves (2008-10), Marlins (2011-12) and Royals (2014-16), Infante is the owner of a career .271/.308/.387 line with 82 home runs. He was an All-Star in 2010 with Atlanta.