Royals Place John Schreiber on Waivers

[Kevin O'Brien]

 

 On Saturday, after the Royals' latest victory over the Guardians, MLB Insider Joel Sherman reported that Kansas City had placed veteran reliever John Schreiber on waivers. 

 

Schreiber was reportedly pushed to be traded at the Trade Deadline, but the Royals could not find any suitors or a suitable return. While the Royals have won 12 of their last 14, their playoff chances remain slim at 0.2%, according to Fangraphs. Thus, putting Schreiber on waivers allows him to be picked up by another playoff team, saves the Royals $600,000, and frees up a roster spot on the 40-man and 26-man active roster. 

Teams have 48 hours to claim Schreiber on waivers. If he is not selected, he will remain on the Royals for the remainder of the year. The Reds placed Eugenio Suarez and TJ Friedl recently on waivers, but found no takers. 

Schreiber came to the Royals from the Red Sox before the 2024 season, when he was traded for pitching prospect David Sandlin (who's currently in the White Sox organization). In 188 games and 165 IP with the Royals, he has posted a 3.71 ERA, 4.02 FIP, and accumulated a 1.1 fWAR.

He's seen some regression this year. While his ERA is 3.65, his FIP is 4.88, his K-BB% is 6.9%, and his HR/FB% is 16.7%. Those are all the worst marks in a season of his three-year career with the Royals, and as a result, his fWAR is -0.3. His Statcast percentiles haven't been great either, as he's struggled to generate strikeouts and whiffs this year, even though his barrel rate allowed and GB% are still solid. 

Those rates and numbers could explain why the Royals couldn't trade Schreiber by the Deadline. 

MLB rosters expand to 28 on September 1st. Thus, waiving Schreiber could allow them to add another player on the active roster for that stretch run. Storm Chaser righty Lucas Braun and Naturals lefty Hunter Owen are two potential options that the Royals could bring up for the last month of the 2026 season.  

 

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