Royals Place John Schreiber On Waivers

The Royals have placed right-handed reliever John Schreiber on waivers, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. Teams will have 48 hours to claim Schreiber. He is eligible to continue playing for the Royals in the meantime.

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This is the third known instance of a non-contender putting at least one player on waivers this week. The Reds did it with third baseman Eugenio Suárez and outfielder TJ Friedl, who went unclaimed. The Mets did the same on Saturday with outfielder Luis Robert Jr. Schreiber is now joining Robert in limbo. The 32-year-old hurler is owed about $600K through the rest of 2026, his last season of team control.

Formerly with Detroit and Boston, Schreiber had the best season of his career with the Red Sox in 2022. Over 65 innings that year, he notched a 2.22 ERA with a 28.8% strikeout rate, a 7.4% walk rate and 22 holds. Two years later, after a solid but injury-shortened 2023 campaign, the Red Sox traded Schreiber to the Royals. He tallied 23 holds in his each of his first two seasons in Kansas City and has logged ERAs in the upper threes every year with the club, including 3.65 in 49 1/3 frames in 2026.

Schreiber is running a 45.4% ground-ball rate, one of the highest of his career, though his strikeout (18%) and walk (11%) numbers have gone in the wrong direction. Fielding-independent metrics such as xFIP (4.52), SIERA (4.56), xERA (4.56) and FIP (4.87) are all similarly low on Schreiber, who has benefited from a .254 batting average on balls in play. Those red flags help explain why the Royals did not find a taker for Schreiber ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline. Perhaps that will change now that an acquiring team would not have to trade any compensation for him. If it does, Schreiber would join a new club by Sept. 1, which would make him eligible to participate in the playoffs.

The Royals, who beat the Guardians on Saturday, have gone a jaw-dropping 12-1 since Aug. 16. Despite that tremendous stretch of play, they still own the third-worst record in the American League (62-75). Still 11 games back in the AL Central and 6 1/2 out of a Wild Card spot, they are willing to move on from Schneider with a month left in the season. If he goes unclaimed and finishes 2026 with the Royals, it seems likely they will let him walk in free agency over the winter.