Kansas City Royals: Ian Kennedy pitching well in new role

The Kansas City Royals made the decision to move Ian Kennedy to the bullpen this year and so far, it’s looking to be a good decision.

Ian Kennedy is making a lot of money, but that didn’t stop the Kansas City Royals from thinking big picture and doing what was best for them in the long-term. That included taking Ian Kennedy out of the starting rotation and putting him in a relieving role.

So far, Kennedy has been pretty impressive as a reliever. He’s pitched in seven innings, allowing six hits, and just one run during his relief appearances. That’s good for an ERA of 1.29 and a WHIP of 0.86 with five strikeouts for Kennedy.

Yes, it’s still very early into the season, but it’s nice to see some consistency from Kennedy, especially given how bad the bullpen has been thus far. Only Kennedy, Richard Lovelady, Scott Barlow, and recently Jake Diekman have been reliable out of the pen in these first two weeks of the season.

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While it’s great to see Ian Kennedy perform well in this new role, it’s still not exactly what the organization had in mind when they inked him to that massive contract three years ago. That deal, in case you forgot, was worth $70 million over the course of five years.

Kennedy is now in year four of that deal and with so many promising young pitching prospects in the farm system, having Kennedy continue to be a part of the rotation didn’t make a ton of sense. He’ll be a free agent after next year and the Royals need to be thinking about the future of the rotation, even if Kennedy is making the kind of money he is.

Perhaps at some point Kennedy will be put back into the rotation for whatever reason, but for the time being, he’s flourishing in his new role as a reliever and that’s a welcomed sight.

As mentioned earlier though, Kennedy has been one of the few reliable arms out of the bullpen. It’s been a rough go of it for the Royals relievers, but hopefully those were just early season jitters and this won’t be a constant throughout the 2019 season.

Royals fans might look back on Kennedy’s deal as one of the worst in franchise history, but at least he’s doing well this season so far. There’s still a lot of baseball left to be played, but if Ian Kennedy can provide a serviceable arm out of the bullpen, Royals fans might not look back on this contract with as much frustration years down the road.