MLB: The 10 worst free agent signings before this season

Number Nine

SP Travis Wood, Kansas City Royals, 2-years, $12 million

4-7, 94 IP, 6.80 ERA, 5.90 FIP, 1.73 WHIP

-0.6 WAR (FanGraphs)

-1.2 WAR (Baseball-Reference)

Fresh off of a World Series victory with the Chicago Cubs in 2016, Wood signed with the Kansas City Royals in February. He’d been superficially good with the Cubs as a lefty reliever with a 2.95 ERA. His FIP was 4.54, so that ERA had some good fortune attached to it. The Royals started Wood in the bullpen and he struggled for the first three months of the season. At the end of June, he had a 6.28 ERA as a reliever.

The Royals moved him to the rotation in July and he allowed 12 earned runs in 13 innings across three starts, an ERA of 8.31 as a starter. That got him traded to the San Diego Padres, along with Matt Strahm and minor leaguer Esteury Ruiz. The Padres sent three arms back to Kansas City, including Brandon Maurer, who had been the Padres’ closer, albeit a closer with a 5.72 ERA (but a 3.23 FIP).

Wood has remained a starter with the Padres. In 11 outings, he has a 6.71 ERA and 6.99 FIP. While the Cubs look are headed back to the playoffs to defend their first World Series victory since 1908, Travis Wood is getting hammered in the rotation of the fourth place Padres. What a difference a year makes.