As of now it appears Aaron Laffey will be wearing royal blue again — Kansas City Royals blue, that is — as the Royals acquired the former Allegany High School left-hander from the New York Yankees in a waivers claim on Tuesday.

Laffey, 26, split last season with the Yankees and the Seattle Mariners after spending the four previous seasons with the Cleveland Indians. The former 16th-round draft pick went to the Yankees in a waiver deal in August and went 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA in 11 appearances for the Bombers. Overall, in 47 games, he was 3-2 with a 3.88 ERA.

“It gives us another option from the left side,” general manager Dayton Moore told the Kansas City Star. “(Laffey’s) still very young. He’s always had the ability to spin the ball, and our scouts feel like he’s an upgrade for us.”

Laffey, who was immediately placed on Kansas City’s 40-man roster, is first-time arbitration eligible this winter after making $431,600, according to the Star. He also has one option remaining, meaning he could be sent to the minors without clearing waivers — the gift that never stops reminding he played in the Indians organization his first four years.

After starting in the big leagues his first three seasons, Laffey was moved to the bullpen in 2010 by Cleveland. In 126 career games, including 49 starts, he is 21-23 lifetime with a 4.34 ERA.

“He’s versatile,” Moore told the Star. “He can be a swing-type guy.”

And so it continues. The Yankees, who were eliminated from the postseason last Friday by Detroit, decided not to offer Laffey a tenured contract, which was no shocker since the reason they acquired him for the stretch was injuries to their left-handed relievers, who are expected to be back and healthy next season.

So now, after being placed on waivers, he belongs to the Royals for as late as Dec. 13, the deadline for offering a player a contract or going to arbitration.

 While it was likely a lot of kicks for Laffey down the stretch to be with the Yankees, the team he grew up rooting for, he couldn’t have been comfortable or happy in the role as left-handed specialist the Yankees had him in. Again, that’s no fault of the Yankees, because it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. But Laffey has a lot of untapped innings in that restless left arm of his, so it just felt unnatural seeing him sit around in hurry-up-and-wait circumstances.

The feeling here has always been that at the very least Laffey is a long-middle reliever; at the very most, a starter. His make-up and his arm, not to mention the side of his body his pitching arm is on, make him a starter, who still has plenty of time in front of him to prove it.

Left-handed starters of Laffey’s ilk — not overpowering, but with some zip and with a know-how for how to pitch — have a tendency to have long big-league careers after their early organizations go too stubbornly by the book because they’re afraid to decide whether to make the lefty a starter or put him in the bullpen.

You don’t believe me, ask Jamie Moyer, who had no zip, but who always knew how to get hitters out.

Laffey understood when he decided to make this his life’s work that there was the possibility for years like this one. Four teams in one season since the beginning of spring training, though, is probably more than even he understood could happen. Still, things happen for a reason, although in baseball, it doesn’t always feel that way. As Jim Bouton said, “You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around the whole time.”

The best grip for Laffey in this season, however, is there has always been a demand for his services. There’s always been a buyer and through all of the here-and-there he’s had to experience, that’s not a constant easy to come by in a business and in a game that can be as screwy as this one can often times be.

Now in a town that not only has the best barbecue in America, but a rich baseball soul, and for an organization that clearly knows the value of left-handed pitching and wasted very little time in securing him, who’s to say this won’t be the start of precisely what Laffey has set out to accomplish in this game from the beginning?

We’ll know more, perhaps, on or before Dec. 13. But in the meantime, color Aaron Laffey royal blue once more — a color scheme he has long felt at home with in the past.

Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Write to him at mburke@times-news.com