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.
David Sandlin was a 2022 draft pick taken in the 11th round out of Oklahoma. He posted a 3.51 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 15 starts between Low-A Columbia and High-A Quad Cities. According to MLB Pipeline, he was considered the 19th overall prospect in the Royals organization.
Sandlin was starting to find himself flying up prospect boards with his high strikeout numbers and low walk rates. He’s got a fastball in the mid-90s that has topped out at 98 and even got up to 100 mph this offseason. He pairs it with a mid to upper-80s slider with a great horizontal break and a good changeup, although it is slightly more inconsistent than his slider.
As a corresponding move to make room for Schreiber, Kyle Wright was placed on the 60-day IR.
