Reliever Ian Kennedy elected minor league free agency after going unclaimed on outright waivers, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. The Rangers had designated the right-hander for assignment last week.
Kennedy heads back to the open market in search of a new opportunity after a brief second stint in Texas. The 17-year MLB veteran had had some success with the Rangers during the first half of 2021 leading up to a deadline trade that sent him to Philadelphia. He returned over the winter on a minor league pact and broke camp with the club but only made 11 appearances in his second stint.
The 38-year-old surrendered ten runs in as many innings. He struck out 13 out of 46 hitters (an impressive 28.3% rate) while issuing just three walks. He earned swinging strikes on a massive 16.3% of his offerings, which would easily be the best mark of his career if he could sustain it. Opponents made a lot of quality contact when they did get the ball in play, though, contributing to Texas’ decision to move on. Kennedy also struggled with hard contact last year in Arizona, leading to a 5.36 ERA across 50 1/3 frames.
While the past season-plus has been a struggle, Kennedy has been a quality late-game reliever at times. He saved 30 games with a 3.41 ERA for the Royals back in 2019 and picked up 26 more saves while allowing 3.20 earned runs per nine during the ’21 campaign divided between Texas and the Phillies. Between that track record and this year’s small sample swinging strike numbers, Kennedy should be able to at least find minor league interest elsewhere.
Phil Hughes, joba chamberlain, dellin betances , Andrew brackmen, manny banuelos and Ian kennedy. Did I miss anyone ?
Soon to be Clarke Schmidt.
Justus Sheffield maybe? I guess he was a little later on
Kennedy has actually had a nice career though, unlike those other scrubs
Whatever happened to those 3 flamethrowers from the WS royals team? Especially the 7th inning guy( I’m forget this name lol)
@despicable_you
Kelvin Herrera?
Yes! Whatever happened to him I remember him being dominant. And like 2 years later he was outta the league!
He retired. There should be an article on here about that.
Hughes made $80M while Betances made $30M as a middle reliever. There are way worst MLB careers.
Welcome to the Ray’s Ian.
Braves..3 man rotation and a stable of bullpen guys. Bullpen game after bullpen game
Perry…call this man and get him in the Halos pen. Please and thank you
Braves..3 man rotation and a bunch of bullpen games
Sounds like a perfect fit for the Orioles. Veteran pitcher paid at the league minimum; right up their alley!
What are your guys opinions on the Dodgers? Nvm they’ve probably whooped all your teams asses.
Actually, the Diamondbacks split and won a series against the Dodgers this season so your assumption is incorrect.
Lol I actually like the Dbacks. The Giants and Rockies I don’t care for. The Padres always embarrass themselves last time they were good was when Jake Peavy and Trevor Hoffman were on the team.
watch him go to baltimore or tampa and torture the yankees