Lights-out Pirates reliever making Royals regrettable trade deadline decision look even worse

As bad as Bailey Falter's nightmare exit from the Kansas City Royals was, unfortuantely the damage isn't limited to just that brutal Tuesday evening at Kauffman Stadium. As Royals fans will remember, Falter's time in a Royals uniform was short-lived, having arrived at 2025 trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Pirates. In exchange for the lefty's "services", the Royals sent fellow southpaw Evan Sisk as well as lower-level first base prospect Callan Moss to the Pirates in return.

While Falter has been statistically one of the worst arms in Royals franchise history, Sisk is currently thriving in the Pirates bullpen this season, making a more under-the-radar complementary-type deal look like a clear Pirates fleece. After starting the year admirably in Triple-A Indianapolis and throwing to a 1.17 ERA in six outings, Pittsburgh promoted Sisk in mid-April and he's been flying ever since. Through 23 innings of work out of 'pen, the lefty is throwing to a shimmering 1.57 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and .210 BAA.

To put his great start to 2026 further into context, he leads all Pirates reliever in ERA and is among the top five in FIP, WHIP, BAA, K-rate and walk rate this season, making him one of manager Don Kelly's most reliable relief arms at the moment.

Royals could really use a left-handed contributor like Evan Sisk right now

If there's one thing that Bailey Falter's exit made abundantly clear, besides the fact that he has no place on this big league roster, it's that the Royals have a real pitching depth problem at the moment. Whether it be from injuries or sheer underperformance, Kansas City's depth chart looks shallow at both starting pitcher and in the bullpen.

In relief specifically, with Matt Strahm on the injured list and Falter now off the 40-man roster - and potentially on his way out of the organization in the coming days - the only southpaw in the bullpen at the moment is Daniel Lynch IV. As good as Lynch has been in 2026, any bullpen needs to have more balance in handedness than that.

What's even more frustrating is the fact that Sisk was a reliable arm for the Royals in his brief stint with them in 2025 before being traded. While his control was glaring with a 1.88 WHIP thanks in large part to an 8.44 BB/9 rate, he still managed an exceptional 1.69 ERA in 5.1 innings of work.

Hindsight is always 20/20 and on paper this deal made sense for the Royals at the time. They needed starting pitching depth and Evan Sisk had his flaws and seemed firmly behind both Lynch and the now departed Angel Zerpa in the lefty depth chart in the bullpen. That won't eliminate the sting now though, especially when it's a young arm who never really got a chance to resolve things in Kansas City before being cast aside.

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