Royals Waive 5-Year Veteran Lefty After Dismal Season
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Relief pitching is incredibly volatile in Major League Baseball.
The Kansas City Royals signed left-hander Sam Long to a minor-league contract last year, and he turned in the best season of his career out of the bullpen, posting a 3.16 ERA in 43 outings. But asking the 30-year-old to repeat the feat in 2025 was a tall order.
Long posted a far worse season this year after the Royals rewarded him for his strong season by tendering him a big-league contract for this year. After an April injury, he never got on track, and it wasn't a surprise to see the Royals drop him from the 40-man roster.
Sam Long waived and outrighted to Triple-A
According to the Major League Baseball transactions log, Long was outrighted to Triple-A Omaha on Friday, meaning he was placed on waivers and no team claimed him. That makes him likely to elect free agency in the coming days.
The Royals also outrighted right-hander Kyle Wright, who was confirmed to have been waived earlier this week, and he'll almost certainly elect free agency as well.
Long wound up making 39 appearances for the Royals this season, but was rarely trusted in important spots. He posted a 5.36 ERA and 1.74 WHIP, numbers that indicate when a reliever was on the mound, his team wasn't expecting to hold onto some sort of small lead.
In his five-year major league career, Long has also pitched for the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. He sports a career ERA of 4.65 in 162 appearances. The Tampa Bay Rays selected him in the 18th round of the 2016 MLB Draft.
With parts of five seasons under his belt, Long will be hoping a team takes a chance on him this winter, but in all likelihood, he'll have to take a minor-league deal after such a rough 2025 campaign. He's out of options, so if he goes to spring training with a team and doesn't make the roster, that team will have to expose him to waivers once again.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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