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Royals Designate Austin Cox For Assignment

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The Royals announced this afternoon that they have designated left-hander Austin Cox for assignment. Cox’s departure from the 40-man roster makes room for the club’s acquisition of right-hander Nick Anderson from the Braves in a cash deal earlier today, which the Royals have now officially announced.

Cox, 26, was a fifth-round pick by Kansas City in the 2018 draft. The left-hander impressed in his full-season debut with the organization in 2019, pitching to a 2.76 ERA with a 24.1% strikeout rate across 130 2/3 innings of work split between Single-A and High-A. Unfortunately, the momentum Cox built up over that strong campaign screeched to a halt with the cancelled minor league season in 2020. Cox’s results upon returning to professional play in 2021 were somewhat mixed. Though he did well in his first taste of the Double-A level with a 3.00 ERA in 63 innings of work with a 21.5% strikeout rate, he struggled badly in a brief, two-appearance stint at Triple-A where he surrendered 10 runs on nine hits and five walks across five innings, striking out just four.

Those Triple-A struggles continued into the 2022 campaign, where Cox saw his strikeout rate plummet to just 16.2% across 147 1/3 innings of work at the level while his ERA ballooned up to 4.10. Things seemed to be looking up for Cox in 2023 as he posted a solid 3.61 ERA at the Triple-A level this year while getting his first cup of coffee in the big leagues, but his 2023 season was cut short in September when he suffered a full ACL tear and partial MCL injury that ultimately required surgery. That surgery, which figures to keep him out of action for much of the 2024 season, surely played a role in the club’s decision to designate Cox for assignment.

Going forward, the Royals will have one week to either work out a trade for Cox or expose him to the waiver wire. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, the club will have the opportunity to assign him outright to the minor leagues. Cox has not previously been outrighted in his career and lacks the necessary service time to reject the assignment and depart for free agency.

Royals Acquire Nick Anderson

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The Royals have acquired right-hander Nick Anderson from the Braves, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (X links).  The Braves will receive cash considerations in return.

Anderson is arbitration-eligible for the second time this winter, and is projected to earn $1.6MM in 2024.  The deal removes yet another player from the Braves’ arbitration class, which is now down to six players from 13 at the start of the offseason.  Since Anderson was a non-tender candidate anyway, the trade allows Atlanta to at least collect a small fee rather than lose the righty for nothing by cutting him prior to tonight’s 7pm CT non-tender deadline.

Best known for his two outstanding years as a bullpen weapon for the Marlins and Rays, Anderson posted great numbers in 2019-20, before running out of gas late in Tampa’s run to the 2020 World Series.  The righty was never quite the same again, as injuries cost him essentially all of the next two seasons.  Anderson threw just six innings in 2021 before a UCL injury put him on the shelf, and an internal brace procedure in his right elbow was eventually required.  Between this surgery and then a bout of plantar fasciitis, Anderson didn’t see any big league action during the 2022 campaign.

It was just over a year ago that the Rays waived Anderson, only for the Braves to sign him to a split contract.  The good news is that Anderson was able to return to a Major League mound, and he was pretty effective in posting a 3.06 ERA over 35 1/3 innings and 35 appearances, along with a 25.5% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate.  Unfortunately, injuries again sidelined the 33-year-old, as he missed over two months due to a shoulder strain and made only three minor league appearances after July 7.  Even at a pretty modest arbitration salary, Anderson was deemed expendable by the Braves.

Matt Quatraro was a coach with the Rays during Anderson’s tenure in Tampa Bay, so the Royals manager is very familiar with what Anderson can do when healthy.  Even the righty’s 2023 numbers indicated that he still has some of his old magic still in the tank, and for a Kansas City team in need of bullpen help, adding Anderson is a relatively inexpensive bet the Royals are willing to make.  Since the Royals might be out of contention again next season, Anderson might also be an intriguing trade chip to be flipped at the deadline, particularly since he is controllable through the 2025 season.

Royals GM J.J. Picollo Discusses Offseason Targets

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Royals general manager J.J. Picollo recently spoke to the media at the general manager meetings and Anne Rogers of MLB.com rounded up the pertinent quotes. The Royals will be looking to add to their rotation, lineup and bullpen this winter, though they are likely to take a by-committee approach to the closer role.

The fact that the club has a diverse set of targets for this offseason isn’t surprising, since very little went right for them in 2023. Their 56-106 record was second-worst in the majors, ahead of just the openly-tanking Athletics. Kansas City scored 676 runs, which was better than just seven clubs, while their 859 runs allowed was the third most. There is clearly room for upgrades all over the roster and Picollo will be looking to do just that.

“We’ve got to get depth with our pitching,” Picollo said. “One of our goals is to get starting pitching.” The starting staff in K.C. as a whole put up an earned run average of 5.12 in 2023, a mark better than just three clubs. It might have been even worse if it weren’t for a late-season charge by Cole Ragans. The lefty came over from the Rangers in the Aroldis Chapman deal and posted a 2.64 ERA in 12 starts for the Royals as the season was winding down.

That’s a small sample but it was nonetheless strong enough that he’s probably the ace of the staff right now, which says something about how shaky the rest of the group is. Brady Singer seemed to break out in 2022 when he put up a 3.23 ERA but that jumped up to 5.52 the year after, with his strikeout rate also dropping from 24.2% to 18.9%. Jordan Lyles was signed to a two-year deal but was roughed up in the first, finishing with a 6.28 ERA. Daniel Lynch IV got his ERA down to a career-best 4.64 in 2023 but that was despite his strikeout rate dropping from 20.3% to 15.2%. Kris Bubic began the year with three strong starts but then required Tommy John surgery, which will keep him out of action beyond the start of the 2024 campaign. Zack Greinke could come back to serve a veteran innings-eater role again but he is currently undecided on whether he wants to do that or not.

Given that those are the best in-house options at the moment, it’s understandable that Picollo would look for external upgrades, though it’s fair to wonder how much they are willing to spend. In the past six years, the club hasn’t given a free agent starting pitcher more than the two years and $18MM they gave to Mike Minor. Roster Resource estimates that their 2024 payroll is set to be just $70MM at the moment, but they have only been in the $90MM range in the past two seasons, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

The free agent market is topped by guys who will get nine-figure deals like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and others. But the Royals will likely be shopping in a different aisle, perhaps considering pitchers like Lucas Giolito, Marcus Stroman, Seth Lugo, Jack Flaherty, Michael Wacha, Mike Clevinger, Luis Severino, Frankie Montas and others who could perhaps be had on smaller deals.

Turning to the bullpen, it doesn’t seem like a significant acquisition is in the cards. “It’s going to be very difficult for us to acquire a guy that’s an established closer,” Picollo says. “So we’re probably looking at closer by committee and matchups. Who knows where the market will go, but the priority is going to be on the starting pitching, and then piece the bullpen together.”

Last year, the club took a bounceback flier on Chapman, which ended up working out. After a poor finish to his tenure with the Yankees, Chapman settled for a $4MM guarantee with bonuses on a one-year guarantee from the Royals. He got back on track with a 2.45 ERA for Kansas City before the aforementioned trade to the Rangers which netted Ragans, who is still controllable for another five seasons.

In addition to the Chapman trade, the club also moved José Cuas and Scott Barlow last year, leaving the back of the bullpen fairly wide open. Carlos Hernández struck out 25.7% of batters faced and could be in line for a significant role next year but his 5.27 ERA was still on the high side. James McArthur finished the season strong but still has just 18 major league appearances to his name. John McMillon looked impressive but in just four appearances before hitting the IL with a forearm strain.

There’s plenty of room for free agent signings but the comments from Picollo suggest they aren’t expecting to land a Josh Hader or even a Jordan Hicks or Reynaldo López. However, there are plenty of other arms available and the club will likely bolster their incumbent relievers somehow.

Turning to the lineup, it appears Picollo is fairly open-minded about additions there. “Our on-base wasn’t as high as we’d like it to be,” he said. “I think that’ll tick up as our guys get older and more experienced. But somebody who can get on base would be a priority. Power in our park has always been difficult to come by, but somebody who has more slug would be good. Somebody who can just give you a professional at-bat, get on base, drive the ball, hit anywhere from three to six or seven, and I think just to stretch our lineup would be a great fit.”

The club’s finances will play a role in who they target, but it will also depend on how they feel about the young players already on the roster. Bobby Witt Jr. is a lock at shortstop, as is Vinnie Pasquantino at first. Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin should share the catching duties and perhaps some of the designated hitter duties as well. Nelson Velázquez could be in an outfield corner or a DH slot. MJ Melendez had a rough first half in 2023 but finished strong and will likely return to left field.

But there are plenty of tougher decisions elsewhere. Maikel Garcia had an excellent defensive season at third but was subpar at the plate. It’s a fairly similar story for second baseman Michael Massey and center fielders Kyle Isbel and Drew Waters. The club could supplement those positions with free agents but they also might want to give some or all of those guys room to take a step forward in 2024.

Again, it’s probably fair to expect the club to opt for modest spending, given their limited payroll and steep path back to contention. But some bats that could perhaps be had without breaking the bank include Rhys Hoskins, Brandon Belt, Jorge Soler, Amed Rosario, Justin Turner, Jason Heyward or Adam Duvall.

Taking a 106-loss club and turning them into a contender is no easy feat. The Royals have one advantage in that the American League Central is arguably the weakest division in the sport and the Twins are cutting payroll. However, the Minnesota roster is still in decent shape and it wouldn’t be a shock if the Tigers and Guardians improved in 2024. The Royals have some holes to fill and probably not a lot of resources to work with, meaning Picollo has his work cut out for him this winter.

Royals Designate Logan Porter, Josh Staumont For Assignment

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The Royals announced that they have selected right-hander Will Klein and outfielder Tyler Gentry to the 40-man roster. Today is the deadline to add players in order to prevent them from being available in the Rule 5 draft. In order to open roster space, they designated catcher Logan Porter and right-hander Josh Staumont for assignment.

Klein, 24 later this month, was a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft. On his way up the minors leagues, he has racked up plenty of strikeouts and ground balls but has also given out batches of walks. In 2023, he pitched 64 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.62 earned run average. He struck out 30.5% of opponents in that time but also walked 12.8% of them and kept about 45% of balls in play on the ground at both levels.

Gentry, 25 in February, was selected in the third round of the 2020 draft. As he has ascended towards the majors, he has shown an ability to put the ball over the fence as well as take a walk. He spent all of 2023 at the Triple-A level, hitting 16 homers, walking in 14.2% of his plate appearances and also stealing 14 bases. His .253/.370/.421 batting line translates to a wRC+ of 103. He’s not considered an especially strong defender but has a chance to become a regular option in a corner based on his bat.

Baseball America considers Gentry to be the club’s #9 prospect and has Klein in the #22 spot. The two of them will give the club some optionable depth going forward and should be battling for their respective major league debuts by Spring Training.

But their gain is a loss for a couple of other players. Staumont, 30 next month, was a second-round pick in 2015 and had some success in his first tastes of the majors but has hit some speed bumps of late. He made 106 appearances from 2019 to 2021 with an ERA of 2.93 but a 6.09 in the past two years, walking 15.9% of batters in that latter timeframe.

In July, he underwent surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome, making his path forward uncertain. He made a salary of $1.025MM in 2023 and would have been due a raise via arbitration in 2024, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a modest bump to $1.2MM, but it seems the Royals didn’t want to bring him back at that price point.

Porter, 28, was just added to the club’s roster in September as they were dealing with injuries to catchers Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin. It seems they didn’t have him in their long-term plans, as he’s now been bumped off the roster. He had a strong season in 2022, hitting .301/.442/.476 in the minors for a wRC+ of 145, but that line fell to .232/.339/.377 at Triple-A in 2023.

The Royals will have one week to trade or outright both players. Staumont has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

Royals Avoid Arbitration With Taylor Clarke

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November 13: Clarke will make $1.25MM in 2024, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com, a slight bump over the $1.15MM he made in 2023.

November 11: The Royals and right-hander Taylor Clarke have agreed to a contract for the 2024 season, the team announced, and thus the two sides will be able to avoid an arbitration hearing.  Terms of the deal weren’t revealed, but MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected Clarke would earn $2.2MM in the second of three trips through the arb process.

The Diamondbacks non-tendered Clarke during the 2021-22 offseason, and he caught on with the Royals on a guaranteed deal for the 2022 campaign worth $975K.  After delivering a solid 4.04 ERA over 49 relief innings for Kansas City in 2022, Clarke took a step backwards this past season, posting a 5.95 ERA over 59 frames.  Clarke saw both his walk and home run rates increase substantially from 2022 to 2023, though his BABIP also shot upwards from .314 in 2022 to .364 last season.

With this dropoff in mind, Clarke was seen as a possible non-tender candidate again this winter, but K.C. has opted to keep him in the fold.  Despite Clarke’s struggles, he isn’t terribly expensive, and the Royals could be betting on improved batted-ball luck, if nothing else.  Clarke also had one of baseball’s best chase rates, even if his 24.4% strikeout rate was only slightly above the league average.

November 17 is the deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players, so the Royals now have six remaining arb-eligible players to consider over the next six days.  The list was initially eight players, but Clarke has now signed, and Taylor Hearn was outrighted off the 40-man roster in October, and Hearn then elected free agency.

Royals, Bobby Witt Jr. Have Had “Some Talks Here And There” About Extension

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While the Royals’ rebuild hasn’t gone to plan overall, Kansas City does have at least one cornerstone in Bobby Witt Jr.  The second overall pick of the 2019 draft has lived up to the hype in his young career, fully breaking out with a 5.7 fWAR season in 2023 that saw Witt hit .276/.319/.495 over 694 plate appearances with 30 homers, 49 stolen bases (in 64 chances), and a league-high 11 triples.  The public defensive metrics are rather unusually split on Witt’s glovework, but at least in the view of the Outs Above Average metric, Witt’s +14 number makes him one of sport’s best defensive shortstops, to boot.

The future is very bright for the 23-year-old, and some level of discussion seems to have taken place between Witt and the Royals in regards to how much of that future will be in K.C.  Witt told Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star that “I think there is some talks here and there” in regards to a possible contract extension, “so we’re just kind of waiting to see.  I love this organization and love this team.  It’s just kind of one of those things.  If the time is right, the time’s right.”

Players and teams usually tend to keep contract negotiations quiet, especially since things between Witt and the Royals might still be somewhat in the embryonic stages.  As Thompson noted, Royals GM J.J. Picollo said last month that the club was “working on” extending Witt, and that “it would be exciting to do so, as he is a special player.  We want to keep special players in our uniform.”

To this end, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal hears from a source that the Royals are “at least entertaining the idea of approaching Witt” about an extension at some point this offseason, which implies that no formal offers have been issued or perhaps even floated towards Witt’s representatives at Octagon.  It is worth noting that there isn’t a big ticking clock on either side to fully delve into talks, as Witt is under team control through 2027 and won’t even be eligible for salary arbitration until next winter.

That said, Witt’s price tag will only increase as time goes by.  Witt is already looking at a sizeable set of increasing salaries through his arb seasons, so the Royals would surely like to gain some cost certainty for those years at the minimum.  If a larger-scale extension can’t be worked out, Witt and the Royals might explore a shorter-term deal covering just the arbitration seasons, akin to the three-year extension Bo Bichette signed with the Blue Jays last spring.

Even that type of extension would be a relatively pricey endeavor for a Kansas City franchise that has never been big spenders.  Salvador Perez’s four-year, $82MM extension prior to the 2021 season remains the largest contract in franchise history, and a long-term deal for Witt might be at least twice that amount, depending on the number of years covered.

For instance, the Rays inked Wander Franco to an 11-year, $182MM extension after Franco’s 2021 rookie season, which consisted of 70 MLB games.  Like Franco, Witt was also a heavily hyped shortstop prospect, but Witt now has two full productive Major League seasons under his belt, so it would seem like Octagon could surely argue that a Witt extension deserves to top Franco’s deal, and approach or top the $200MM mark.  The Braves’ Austin Riley inked a ten-year, $212MM extension when he was between two and three years of MLB service time.

Though the Rays have shown a (comparatively) greater inclination to spend lately, we haven’t yet really seen how far the Royals are willing or able to stretch their payroll under owner John Sherman.  On the one hand, Perez’s extension did take place under Sherman’s watch, as part of a relative spending spree during the 2020-21 offseason that also saw a four-year extension for Hunter Dozier, as well as two-year free agent deals for Mike Minor and Carlos Santana.  All of these moves were made with the intent of boosting what the Royals thought was a group of youngsters on the verge of a breakout, yet the team has continued to struggle.  This cost former president of baseball operations Dayton Moore his job in 2022, elevating Picollo from second-in-command to the head of the decision-making pyramid.

Some other big-picture issues cloud the financial picture.  While the bankruptcy of the Diamond Sports Group has yet to impact the Royals’ broadcasts on Bally Sports, Sherman said last spring that naturally the organization was monitoring the situation should the Royals’ TV rights payments suddenly come into question.  As well, Sherman has been trying to get a new ballpark built in Kansas City, and in some instances, owners claiming that a new stadium is critical to a team’s ability to compete don’t want to perhaps undercut that argument by then spending $200MM on a player’s contract.  That said, Rosenthal argues in the other direction, writing that a Witt extension “might help sway public sentiment” to get the ballpark project off the ground.

Even if K.C. probably aren’t going to be huge players in the offseason transaction market, the possibility of a Witt extension stands out as a notable subplot to watch — both for its importance on the Royals’ future, and as a benchmark for future extensions.  Even if the two sides are in the proverbial “talking about having some talks” phase of negotiations, expect things to get at least a little more serious as we get deeper into Spring Training, as teams tend to focus more on extensions once their offseason business is complete.

Zack Greinke Undecided On Future

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Six-time All-Star Zack Greinke is still mulling whether he’ll continue his career in 2024, Royals general manager J.J. Picollo told Jon Morosi of MLB.com at this week’s GM Meetings. The former Cy Young winner and likely Hall of Famer turned 40 in October.

Greinke has spent the past two seasons pitching with Kansas City — the same team that drafted and developed him. It’s been a full-circle homecoming and feel-good story for a lot of Royals fans, though the 2023 season didn’t go nearly as well as the 2022 campaign. In Greinke’s return to K.C. back in ’22, he tossed 137 innings of 3.68 ERA ball. That earned run average spiked to 5.06 over the life of 142 1/3 innings in 2023 — a season that saw Greinke post a 2-15 record. That mark has as much to do with a dismal Royals roster as it does with Greinke’s overall performance, but it surely wasn’t what Greinke envisioned heading into the year.

A return for his age-40 season afford Greinke the chance to reach at least one major milestone. He’s currently sitting at 2979 strikeouts in his career, and while he’s not the prolific strikeout artist he once was, he’d have no issue getting to 3000 if he returned for another full season. He’d become just the 20th pitcher in Major League history to reach that esteemed mark.

At this stage of his career, it’s not clear whether Greinke would have an appetite for pitching anywhere other than in Kansas City. He reportedly turned down similar, if not larger offers from the Twins and Tigers in the 2021-22 offseason, preferring to go back home to where his career began. He wasn’t connected to any other teams last offseason before returning to the Royals on another one-year deal. Greinke earned a $13MM base salary with the Royals in 2022 and an $8.5MM base last year — though he picked up another $4.5MM of incentives based on his innings total. Presumably, he’d be in line for a lesser base salary if he opts to return, though an agreement could have a similar incentives package based on starts and/or innings pitched.

From a team vantage point, bringing Greinke back to soak up some innings and give fans a few more memories could make sense. The Royals have struggled immensely to develop pitchers. Their vaunted crop of college arms from the 2018-20 draft classes simply hasn’t panned out to date, with only Brady Singer finding a full season’s worth of above-average production at any point. That came in 2022, but Singer took a pronounced step back in 2023. Fellow highly touted college picks like Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic and Asa Lacy have yet to emerge as viable big league starters.

Kansas City does look to have unearthed a gem in plucking Cole Ragans from the Rangers in this past summer’s Aroldis Chapman trade. The former first-rounder turned in a 2.64 ERA and 31.1% strikeout rate in 12 starts following the trade. In doing so, he locked up a 2024 rotation spot. Singer and Lynch also figure to get looks, and Kansas City still has Jordan Lyles under contract through the ’24 season as well. Greinke could eat up some innings beyond that quartet while taking pressure off some still-developing starters — if he chooses to continue his career, of course.

Royals Outright Nate Eaton

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The Royals have sent outfielder Nate Eaton outright to Triple-A Omaha, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Eaton, who will turn 27 in December, has been serving as a depth outfielder with the Royals since being added to the roster in the second half of 2022. He was put into 72 big league games since that time but hasn’t hit much. He currently sports a batting line of .201/.266/.283 in 178 plate appearances, going down on strikes 28.7% of the time, but he has stolen 14 bases and his defense is generally regarded well.

Players with three years of service time or a previous career outright can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. But neither of those criteria apply to Eaton, so he will stick with the Royals as some non-roster outfield depth. He will likely receive an invitation to major league Spring Training, where he will try to earn his way back into the mix.

Dick Drago Passes Away

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Former starting pitcher Dick Drago has passed away on Thursday at the age of 78, as noted by Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe. Drago pitched for the Royals, Red Sox, Angels, Orioles, and Mariners throughout his big league career, which spanned 13 seasons from 1969 to 1981. The Royals and Red Sox both mourned the loss on X this morning, extending sympathies to Drago’s friends and family.

Drago’s big league career began as a member of the inaugural Royals team in 1969, a team for which he quickly emerged as one of the better starting options. Drago posted a 3.77 ERA with a 3.67 FIP across 200 2/3 innings of work during his rookie campaign, throwing 10 complete games and appearing in 41 with 26 starts. He largely repeated those results during the 1970 season with even more volume, pitching to a 3.75 ERA and 3.65 FIP across 240 innings of work.

The righty’s star shined brightest during the 1971 campaign, however. Across 35 appearances (34 starts) for Kansas City that year, Drago posted a 2.98 ERA with a nearly matching 2.99 FIP. He did that across 241 1/3 innings of work, recording 15 complete games with four shutouts among them. Drago’s performance led the Royals to the club’s first season above .500 in the young franchise’s history and earned him a fifth-place finish in AL Cy Young award voting that year while the trophy ultimately went to Vida Blue.

Drago ultimately spent two more seasons in Kansas City, pitching to a 3.58 ERA and 3.47 FIP across a combined 452 innings of work those seasons. In 1974, Drago began his first stint in Boston, which would only last two seasons. That included, of course, the club’s 1975 World Series run that saw them lose the World Series in seven games against the Reds. While Drago pitched just 72 2/3 innings of 3.84 ERA baseball with the Red Sox during the regular season that year, his contributions in four appearances out of the Boston bullpen during the playoffs were far more impressive: Drago allowed just one run in 8 2/3 innings of work across four appearances that postseason against the A’s and Reds.

After converting to relief work in the 1975 season Drago spent two seasons pitching out of the bullpen for the Angels (for whom he gave up the final home run of Hank Aaron’s career in 1976) and the Orioles, with a 3.99 ERA and 3.86 FIP in 140 innings of work across those two seasons, before returning to Boston in 1978. His second stint with the club lasted three seasons, and saw him do some of his best work as a reliever: he posted identical 3.03 ERAs in back-to-back campaigns in ’78 and ’79 before reaching 100 innings pitched in a season for the first time since 1974, his first season with the Red Sox, during the 1980 campaign, his final in Boston.

Drago’s career then came to a close in 1981, after 39 appearances with the Mariners. Over his 13-season big league career, Drago posted a 3.62 ERA and 3.58 FIP with an above-average ERA+ of 103 across 1875 innings of work. He appeared in 519 games, struck out 987 batters, and accrued 108 wins throughout his career. We at MLB Trade Rumors extend our condolences to Drago’s family, friends, fans and former teammates.

Ian Kennedy To Retire

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Right-hander Ian Kennedy is retiring, he told Evan Thompson of Sport Relay during last night’s World Series celebration. While Kennedy indicated he had made the decision that this would be his final season going into 2023, he acknowledged “there’s no better way to go out” than as a member of a Rangers team that clinched the franchise’s first title.

The Yankees selected Kennedy in the first round of the 2006 draft. The USC product reached the majors a little more than a year later, debuting as a September call-up in ’07. He saw limited action in the Bronx over the next two-plus seasons. During the 2009-10 offseason, the Yanks dealt Kennedy to the Diamondbacks as part of the three-team blockbuster that moved Max Scherzer to Detroit and Curtis Granderson to New York.

Kennedy spent three and a half seasons as a key piece of the Arizona rotation. He led the National League with 21 wins while pitching to a 2.88 ERA across 222 innings in 2011, securing a fourth-place finish in NL Cy Young balloting. At the 2013 deadline, the Snakes flipped Kennedy to the Padres for Joe Thatcher. He worked out of the San Diego rotation for two and a half seasons, eating around 200 innings annually with a combined 3.97 ERA.

Going into 2016, the Royals signed the hurler to a five-year, $70MM free agent pact. After posting a 3.68 ERA across 33 starts during his first season in K.C., Kennedy struggled in 2017-18. He reinvented himself as a closer in 2019, saving 30 games while posting a 3.41 ERA. He was hit hard in the shortened season and landed with the Rangers on a minor league pact in 2021.

Kennedy had a strong rebound showing in Texas, emerging as one of the better rental relievers on that summer’s trade market. The Rangers dealt him alongside Kyle Gibson to the Phillies. He played out the stretch with Philadelphia, then returned to Arizona on a $4.75MM free agent deal. Kennedy’s return to the desert didn’t go well. He re-signed with the Rangers for 2023, logging 16 1/3 frames over a pair of stints. While he wasn’t on the active roster for Texas’ playoff run, he capped off his playing days with a ring.

It was a storybook punctuation to a 17-year run in the majors. Kennedy logged a little over 1900 innings between six teams, posting a 4.16 ERA. He struck out 1775 hitters, won 104 games and collected 66 saves after his late-career bullpen move. According to Baseball Reference, he banked over $101MM in career earnings. MLBTR congratulates Kennedy on an excellent run and wishes him the best in retirement.

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