Relief pitcher Richard Lovelady expresses frustration after Royals option him to Omaha

It’s good to have options in life ... unless you are a professional baseball player.

If a Major League Baseball team has options on a player who is on the 40-man roster, then he can be sent to the minor leagues without the team worrying about losing him to another club.

Players have three minor-league options, which covers an entire season. So a player can be sent back to Triple-A multiple times in a season and that’s only considered one option.

Sometimes a player who has options will lose out on a chance to stay with the big-league team when the club keeps someone else who doesn’t have an option.

That can be frustrating, as Royals left-handed reliever Richard Lovelady expressed in a now-deleted tweet.

Lovelady was optioned to Triple-A Omaha on Saturday (along with lefty Josh Taylor and right-hander Josh Staumont), and he apparently got word of the Royals’ plan a day early.

The move was made despite a stellar spring for Lovelady. In eight games, he allowed fives hits, two walks and no runs in eight innings pitched. He struck out 10.

It wasn’t good enough to break camp with the Royals.

“What I did never even matters!” Lovelady wrote on Friday.

Royals fan Sarah Nauser, who is fighting ALS, sent an encouraging word to Lovelady and he appreciated it.

Lovelady missed the entire 2022 season after having Tommy John surgery in September 2021.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro hinted that missed season played a part in the decision to option Lovelady.

“For Josh Taylor and Lovelady, (the message) is keep doing what you’re doing,” Quatraro told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers. “Keep building arm strength. Keep pitching, with both of those guys coming off a full missed year.”

After expressing his frustration, Lovelady deleted his Twitter message and shared this instead: “Thank You GOD For Everything!!!”

Lovelady, 27, has appeared in 46 career games with the Royals (2019-21) and has a 5.62 ERA in that span.