According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Kansas City Royals have traded David Sandlin to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for right-handed reliever John Schreiber. Schreiber compiled a 2.90 ERA with 127 strikeouts in 111.2 innings over his last two seasons with the Red Sox.
The move comes after the Royals added many arms to bolster a bullpen that ranked near the bottom of the league last year. They’ve added Will Smith, Chris Stratton, Matt Sauer, and Nick Anderson this offseason. It was rumored by Ken Rosenthal earlier in the offseason that the Royals were in the market for a closer. Schreiber isn’t quite that, but he is a high-leverage reliever with years of control they were searching for.
Schreiber recently signed a one-year, $1.175 million contract with the Boston Red Sox to avoid arbitration. The Royals will still have three years of control on Schreiber, as he isn’t a free agent until 2027. Schreiber should be a force in the back end of the bullpen for the Royals. He doesn’t possess elite velocity but has good fastball extension and piles up a lot of strikeouts.
Felt like last year John Schreiber was off from the start of spring training. He just never hit his 2022 levels.He spent the offseason working on a cutter and has been down in Fort Myers for almost a month.
Curious to see if his stuff ticks back up.pic.twitter.com/3QbJU4cAwY