Royals sign one-time All-Star reliever to one-year deal

The Royals and left-hander Will Smith are in agreement on a one-year deal worth $5M, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. As noted by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Smith could earn up to $1M in additional incentives.

Smith, 34, returns to the club with whom he made his big league debut back in 2012. Then a starting pitcher, Smith took the ball for 16 turns through the rotation during his age-22 rookie campaign, struggling to a 5.32 ERA and 4.66 FIP across 89 2/3 innings of work. The Royals converted Smith to relief the following season, and the southpaw hasn’t looked back since. He posted a solid 3.24 ERA, 23% better than league average by ERA+, and a 3.03 FIP from 2013-16 across 202 2/3 innings of work split between the Royals, Brewers, and Giants organizations.

Smith missed the entire 2017 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but returned to the mound in 2018 to deliver the finest two seasons of his career. Pitching for San Francisco in 2018-19, Smith posted a 2.66 ERA and 2.71 FIP, striking out 35.8% of batters faced while racking up 48 saves and earning his lone career All-Star appearance during the 2019 season. That dominant performance earned him a three-year, $40M deal with the Braves in free agency the following winter.

The lefty struggled during the first season of that deal, posting a 4.50 ERA with a 7.38 FIP during the shortened 2020 season, though that amounted to just 16 innings of work. The remainder of the contract saw Smith post decent numbers out of the bullpen as the Braves won the World Series in 2021, though he would ultimately be shipped to Houston the following year in a swap that brought Jake Odorizzi to Atlanta. Overall, Smith posted a 3.69 ERA and 4.21 FIP over 127 innings while striking out 27.9% of batters faced and collecting two World Series rings between the 2021 and 2022 campaigns.

In his return to the open market last winter, Smith lingered on the market until late March before signing with the Rangers on a one-year, $1.5M guarantee. Though Smith posted a roughly league average 4.40 ERA in 2023, he managed a more palatable 3.36 FIP and recorded 22 saves in 27 chances for the Rangers as they went on to win the first World Series championship in franchise history, earning Smith his third consecutive World Series ring.

Back on the market once again, Smith wasted no time in agreeing to a deal this winter, and figures to get the opportunity to close for the Royals entering the 2024 campaign. The contract will give the southpaw the opportunity to bounce back on a team with minimal hopes of making the playoffs next season, a similar situation to the one Kansas City offered Aroldis Chapman in 2023 before he joined Smith in Texas following a midseason trade. 

Meanwhile the Royals are surely hoping that, if they do find themselves on the outside looking in with regards to the playoff race, Smith will have pitched well enough by the time the trade deadline rolls around next summer to net the club a solid return just as Chapman did when he was swapped for Cole Ragans. Ragans made 12 starts for the Royals down the stretch and impressed with a 2.64 ERA and 31.1% strikeout rate in 71 2/3 innings of work.