Royals acquire LHP Matt Strahm from Phillies for Jonathan Bowlan

The Royals managed to jump the leak train entirely when they abruptly announced this morning that they had acquired left-handed relief pitcher Matt Strahm in exchange for right-handed reliever Jonathan Bowlan.

This trade must have come together quickly and easily because most transactions during the MLB offseason are broken hours, if not days, in advance of being officially acknowledged. In this case, there was nary a peep on social media before the deal was done.

Matt Strahm, of course, has been a Royal before. Last we saw him, he was a promising reliever the Royals were trying to convert into a starter. Unfortunately, he had suffered a season-ending injury, and the Royals were in the middle of a playoff hunt. They dealt him in the ill-fated trade with the San Diego Padres to acquire (trigger warning!) Ryan Buchter, Trevor Cahill, and Brandon Maurer.

After that, Strahm made a few starts but mostly pitched as a reliever. Four seasons for the Padres, one for the Red Sox, and most recently three years with the Phillies. It was with the Phillies that he blossomed into a dominant left-handed relief pitcher. He has accrued 1.5 fWAR or more as a reliever in each of the past three seasons. That ties him with Tanner Scott as the sixth-most valuable reliever in MLB over that span. He’s the only relief pitcher to achieve 2+ bWAR in each of the past three years.

Strahm is primarily a 4-seam slider guy. He throws some sinkers and cutters to keep things honest, along with the very occasional changeup – he threw six of them out of 993 total pitches in 2025. His velocity isn’t elite, but -stop me if you’re surprised about a pitcher the Royals have acquired in the last few years – he gets very good rise on his fastball. What sets him apart from other pitchers is that he also gets top-end arm-side run on his 4-seamer; most pitchers can only get one or the other. He can throw all of his pitches for strikes, but gets plenty of chase when he doesn’t and, as you might expect, lots of whiff on his heater.

Strahm is only under contract for this season after the Phillies picked up their club option on him.

Jonathan Bowlan is a perhaps-underrated member of last year’s bullpen. He took the maximum number of trips between KC and Omaha as one of the few relievers the team employed who had minor league options. When he was in the big leagues, he was one of the few Royals pitchers last season who was able to get strikeouts, though he walked a few more and gave up a lot more home runs than you would have liked. I entered the offseason excited to see what he could do for KC next season.

The bad news, if there is any, is that Bowlan had five more years of team control. If you’re wondering how the Royals basically turned Angel Zerpa and Bowlan into Nick Mears and Strahm – plus Isaac Collins! It comes down to years of club control. Zerpa and Bowlan combined for eight, while Mears and Strahm combine for three. Still, relievers are avocados, so the Royals are unlikely to be super disappointed when they eventually have to pay or replace Strahm and Mears while the Phillies and Brewers continue trying to squeeze more juice out of Zerpa and Bowlan.

Regardless, the Royals’ 2026 bullpen is significantly stronger following this trade and that’s basically all we could ask for.