Ian Kennedy disappointed during his time with the Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals inked Ian Kennedy to the second largest contract in franchise history after they won the World Series and it didn’t go according to plan.

Dayton Moore had the right idea when he and the Kansas City Royals organization decided to sign starting pitcher Ian Kennedy to a massive contract after the boys in blue won their first World Series title in 30 years. The hope was that Kennedy could serve as a No. 2 starter in the rotation and eat up innings for the then defending champions.

While it was something that made sense, as Kennedy had been labeled as an innings eater up to that point in his career, it didn’t quite come to fruition. Kennedy was fine during his first season as a Royal, twirling 195.2 innings (the most he had in a season as a Royal) and a 3.68 ERA in 33 starts. If the Royals could have gotten that kind of production out of Kennedy the entire season, the deal wouldn’t have looked so bad.

Unfortunately, Kennedy struggled to get back to that point. He made 30 starts in 2017, but wasn’t on point that year, finishing season No. 2 in Kansas City with an ERA over five. In 2018, he was given one final chance to prove he could be a reliable starter and had no such luck, finishing with a 4.66 ERA in 22 starts and 119.2 innings pitched.

For a guy who was brought in to be an innings eater, he sure wasn’t living up to that mantra. His innings pitched went down each year and the Royals had finally seen enough, moving him to the bullpen in 2019.

Ian Kennedy slightly redeemed himself in 2019 for the Kansas City Royals, but ultimately the contract will always be looked at as one of the team’s worst deals.

Yes, Kennedy had a nice 2019 season in the bullpen, but the Royals were paying him a lot of money to throw one inning a game. He did look to find his niche as a reliever, appearing in 63 games and notching 30 saves during that time.

Kennedy was so good during his 2019 season that it actually seemed realistic for the Royals to be able to trade him and get his awful contract off their books. Sadly, that didn’t end up happening, but there was hope that he’d continue to be a good closer/reliever in 2020.

Kennedy couldn’t get back to his 2019 form and struggled immensely in 2020, finishing the season with a 9.00 ERA through 14 innings pitched. It was a rough year for Kennedy on the mound and he’ll be hitting free agency after a lackluster shortened season.

According to Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com, the Royals won’t extend a qualifying offer to Kennedy (no surprises there), so he will indeed hit the free agent market. While some team might scoop him up hoping he has anything left in the tank, the Royals should have learned from their mistakes with this signing. Kennedy wasn’t a star prior to coming to Kansas City, but the Royals paid him like he was one and that’s something this organization can’t do.

Ian Kennedy had his moments in a Kansas City Royals uniform, but ultimately his contract will go down as one of the worst in franchise history.