4 former KC Royals who’ve disappointed this season

His season marred by injury, former KC Royals hurler Mike Minor struggles.

The move came suddenly and surprisingly. Entering the final year of the two-season deal he signed to reunite with Kansas City two Novembers ago, and expected to remain an important part of the Royals’ rotation this year, Mike Minor instead found himself traded to Cincinnati for reliever Amir Garrett before spring training ended.

The deal closed out Minor’s second stint with Kansas City. He spent the 2017 season with the Royals and, pitching exclusively out of the bullpen after missing two seasons recovering and rehabilitating from injuries, went 6-6 with a 2.55 ERA and six saves in 65 appearances.

Minor took advantage of free agency after the season and moved on to Texas, where he resumed the starter’s role he’d had for five years in Atlanta before joining the Royals. He won 26 games for the Rangers across 2018 and 2019, but none in 2020 before they shipped him to Oakland.

He returned to Kansas City last season and tied Brad Keller for club leads in wins (eight) and losses (12), and posted a grim 5.05 ERA. But on a team with a shaky rotation, his job for 2022 remained secure.

Until the Garrett deal, that is. Certain to immediately join a questionable Cincinnati rotation, Minor instead suffered a shoulder injury which forced him to the IL before the regular season even started.

Minor returned June 3, but the results haven’t been pretty. Washington roughed him up for five runs in four innings that night, Arizona dinged him for three in 4.1 frames five days later and another four in 6.1 innings five days after that, and Milwaukee scored four times in six innings against him Sunday. He’s 1-3 with a 6.97 ERA.