Royals designate Matt Strahm for assignment

The 34-year-old southpaw had been designated for assignment earlier in the week and passed through waivers unclaimed. A reliable setup option in years past, Strahm struggled to a 7.32 ERA over 41 appearances with the Royals this season. Given the lack of quality left-handed bullpen options around the league, it shouldn’t be hard for Strahm to find another opportunity where a team thinks they can fix what’s causing his struggles this season.

It is notable that the Royals didn’t turn to nominal closer Alex Lange in a save situation after he blew Tuesday’s game. It didn’t work out very well for Matt Quatraro, who had Lucas Erceg load the bases while getting two outs in a 3-0 game and then had Strahm unload them. It’s hard to be confident about any closer emerging here down the stretch, though it’s a bit surprising they haven’t at least dabbled with Daniel Lynch IV in the role since he’s the only Royals reliever who has been appreciably good this year.

The 34-year-old southpaw had been sidelined for a couple of weeks due to inflammation in his right knee. He’ll return to a 3.86 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and a 17/7 K/BB ratio over 16 1/3 frames in 17 appearances for the Royals this season.

Strahm hits the shelf after recording just two outs on 15 pitches during Friday’s relief appearance against the Cardinals. The 34-year-old lefty holds a pedestrian 3.86 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 17/7 K/BB ratio across 16 1/3 innings over 17 appearances. There is no timetable for his return yet.

Derek Hill hit the homer. Strahm has allowed three homers and seven runs in 15 2/3 innings to begin the year. At this point, Daniel Lynch IV probably should be ahead of him in line for saves if something happens to Lucas Erceg.

Erceg walked Gunnar Henderson on seven pitches, only to pick him off afterwards. Another walk and a groundout followed. Facing Pete Alonso, Erceg got ahead 1-2 but walked him after a couple of borderline check-swings weren’t called. Samuel Basallo then singled to tie the game. Erceg’s stuff is down a notch this year, but he actually had great velocity tonight, throwing 1-1.5 mph than his season averages. Still, he certainly can’t afford to walk batters like this when he’s just not getting many strikeouts. This might open the door for Matt Strahm and/or Daniel Lynch IV to receive save chances.

Carlos Estévez was likely unavailable because of an ankle contusion, but he would have had no business pitching today anyway after giving up six runs last night. The Royals used Matt Strahm in relief of Seth Lugo to get the final two outs of the seventh. John Schneider gave up one run in the eighth to make it a 4-1 game and create the save chance for Erceg, who converted it easily. With Estévez unlikely to reemerge as a useable late-game reliever right away, Erceg is worth rostering everywhere.

If you watched Estévez this spring, you had a pretty good idea this was coming. The 2025 AL saves leader averaged 91.2 mph with his fastball tonight, down 4.7 mph from last year. His hardest pitch, at 92.3 mph, was actually the one Dominic Smith hit for the game-ending grand slam. Smith gave up four hits, all on hard-hit balls, and walked two while getting just one miss on 10 swings. He simply can’t serve as a major league closer until he gets some stuff back, and unless the Royals are blinded by loyalty, they should turn to Matt Strahm and Lucas Erceg, in either order, in the eighth and ninth. We’d grab Erceg first, but best not to write off Strahm. Both pitched scoreless innings tonight, with Strahm getting the seventh and Erceg working the eighth.

Strahm was charged with a run after departing the game against the Rangers. He has a 3.38 ERA in six appearances this spring.

Strahm returns home to the organization that drafted him in the 21st round back in 2012. The 34-year-old hurler debuted with the Royals in 2016 before traveling around the league. While he has some experience in the ninth inning, it’s likely that he’ll settle into his traditional setup role with the Royals.