The Royals announced today that they have requested unconditional release waivers on left-hander Amir Garrett. The lefty had been designated for assignment last week, and will now officially become a free agent upon clearing.
Garrett struggled badly during his tenure with Kansas City, which began when he was traded to the Royals by the Reds in exchange for fellow lefty Mike Minor. Since then, Garrett has been a roughly league average reliever by the numbers, with a 4.39 ERA (96 ERA+) and a 4.16 FIP 87 appearances with the Royals. Garrett has been held back from being a stronger set-up option in these past two seasons thanks to serious control problems, with a 16.9% walk rate during his Royals tenure. Those issues have been magnified across 24 1/3 innings of work this season, as Garrett has allowed free passes at an even higher 17.9% rate. If not for an unsustainable 85.2% strand rate this season, Garrett’s strong 3.33 ERA this season would surely be significantly higher, as illustrated by his concerning peripherals (5.58 FIP, 5.05 SIERA).
Garrett had just over five years of major league service time entering the 2023 campaign, and any player with at least five years of service time has the right to reject an outright assignment without forgoing the remainder of his salary. Additionally, no club would have had interest in taking on the remainder of Garrett’s $2.65MM salary for the 2023 campaign when he could be had for no more than the prorated major league minimum if signed after he hits the open market. As such, the Royals’ decision to forgo outright waivers and simply release Garrett was little more than a formality.
Once Garrett officially clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any of the other 29 organizations in the league, which would only have to pay him a prorated portion of the major league minimum for the rest of the season, leaving the Royals on the hook for the remainder of his 2023 salary. While Garrett’s control problems are certainly glaring, as a lefty bullpen arm who had success back in 2019 and 2020 with the Reds, when he posted a 3.03 ERA in 90 appearances, he certainly could draw interest from rival clubs on a no-risk minor league deal with a club that thinks it can help Garrett reclaim his previous form.
Got a sneak peak at his curriculum vitae, which listed under “special skills” a “willingness to fight the entire other team by myself,” so there’s that…
Shows he’s a real “go-getter”. Im a recruiter in the healthcare sector and his attitude would be perfect in a number of Florida elder care facilities.
Welcome to The Villages, Amir Garrett. Once the restraints are off, you have free reign.
Baez reunion in Detroit? haha!
Would make BP more interesting…
How about a Baez-Garrett “reunion” in NPB or KBO?
He is headed to the white soxs
Would be interesting if he tried to hook on with the Guardians. Probably no better development staff I would trust outside of maybe the Yankees. He would be a direct upgrade as a bullpen lefty in AAA over Caleb Baragar, who has a 6+ ERA and nearly as many walks as innings pitched this year. If he can find form he’d just need to get ahead of Tim Herrin to get to the majors.
If Tampa or Cleveland pick him up, then he has something I don’t see. But, I’d never argue against either team when it comes to pitchers.
You must have never heard of the Rays or Dodgers. They’d like a word about developing fringe/scrap heap/given up on players.
Reds fans, “Told ya so…”
The Blue Jays need another lefty in the pen. Wouldn’t hurt to give him a 2-week audition before the trade deadline to see if he can fill that hole without have to trade for someone.
Lefties are OPSing 946 against him this year.
Out of the last five outings it appears only the last was a clunker. There are worse. Kinda surprised.
Quite honestly I’m surprised Amir has lasted this long in MLB with his antics.
It’s a shame he couldn’t control his temper or even act like he had some sense. He was a decent pitcher but not worth the effort of trying to keep him in line. Maybe the Reds should have gotten him a babysitter like they did for Josh Hamilton.
As a few have mentioned, maybe if the Tigers signed him he would give Baez that spark he has been needing each day.
The Yankees need to pick this guy up ASAP!He would inject a lotta “f you” into a team that’s been tap water popsicles all year.