The Kansas City Royals signed left-hander Ryan Yarbrough to a one-year contract, the team announced Tuesday.
Yarbrough will earn a base salary of $3 million, a source told Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The deal also contains another $1 million worth of performance bonuses, a source told Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star.
The addition of Yarbrough gives the Royals three left-handers in their 2023 rotation, alongside Daniel Lynch and Kris Bubic.
Yarbrough, who turns 31 on Dec. 31, posted a 4.50 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 80 innings for the Tampa Bay Rays last season. Injuries limited him to just nine big-league starts and 20 total appearances in 2022. The Rays designated him for assignment and then non-tendered him last month.
In Kansas City, he'll be reunited with a familiar face in former Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro. Quatraro, who was hired as Kansas City's manager earlier this offseason, was on the Rays' coaching staff during all five of Yarbrough's seasons in Tampa Bay.
For his career, Yarbrough owns a lifetime 40-31 record with a 4.33 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 467 strikeouts across 579 2/3 innings. The Austin, Texas, native's best season came in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign when he was part of the Rays' AL pennant-winning staff.
