SUNDAY, 9:31am: Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star has the financial details of the deal (Twitter link). Butler will earn $3MM in 2011, and $8MM per year from 2012 to 2014. The contract also includes a $2MM signing bonus and a $12.5MM club option for 2015, with a $1MM buyout.
SATURDAY, 8:03pm: The Royals have confirmed the agreement in a press release. It's a four-year contract with a fifth year option for 2015.
10:11am: Billy Butler told MLB.com's Dick Kaegel that he and the Royals have agreed to a four-year, $30MM contract extension. The deal buys out all three of his arbitration-eligible years plus one year of free agency. Butler is represented by Greg Genske of Legacy Sports.
MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows that Butler filed for $4.3MM in arbitration earlier this week while the Royals countered with $3.4MM. Kansas City recently picked up an extra $12.4MM when Gil Meche unexpectedly retired.
Butler, 25 in April, has hit .309/.375/.480 with 36 homers over the last two seasons. Just 28 players boast an OPS that high during that time (min. 1,000 PA), but Evan Longoria, Carlos Gonzalez, Ryan Zimmerman, Troy Tulowitzki, and Butler are the only ones to do so at age 25 or younger. Clearly, the Royals' first baseman has emerged as one of the game's most dangerous young hitters.
Kansas City owns the game's best farm system, and they've now ensured that their best position player at the Major League level will be around when some of those highly touted prospects start to arrive. MLBTR's readers discussed Butler's future with the Royals after the team traded Zack Greinke to the Brewers last month.
Seems like a reasonable deal on both ends.
Answers the earlier MLBTR question about his future.
He better be thanking Gil Meche.
Not really. They have no money on the books for 2012 before this. They have tons of flexibility.
Most likely you’ll see them use that Meche money on development rather than payroll.
It was sarcasm. I know they have money to spend.
Gotcha
i love this deal…
Great deal, Dayton.
THAT’S how you “extend” a player, Walt Jocketty… you buy at least one year of free agency.
I’ve been mad about the Votto contract since it happened. At least twice a day I’m like “Come one Votto, and you too Jocketty!”
votto got exactly what he wanted, escalating pricey arbitration years and the same date to hit the open market
He knows the Blue Jays are watching and dumping salary getting ready for him
Very reasonable contract for the Royals for what will very likely be some of the best years of Butler’s career. WIN/WIN.
That is a GREAT deal for the Royals. I can’t help but love it for them.
You have a soft spot for the Royals? HAHA. I have one for the Rockies, not really sure why, but just do.
I love watching how a team that really has limitations attached to it works. They have to do things that are more interesting and different than what I see with the Red Sox. Let’s face it, most RS deals are boring and expected. KC is more interesting plain and simple. Plus, with a team that has a great history, I want to see them doing well. It also helped that one of my favorite players of all time is George Brett.
this seems curious, should they have traded him to clear room for their multiple corner IF prospects?
Butler can take over at DH when the time comes.
The plan is:
1B: Hosmer
3B: Moustakas
DH: Butler
No blocking anyone.
So ths pretty much means Kila has no place at all w/in the Royals organization right? Damn shame. That kid is going to crush hrs and have a nice OBP. Sort of like Travis Hafner.
Can Kila play any other field position other than 1B?
No, but Hosmer can probably make the move to a corner outfield spot. The Royals would only want to do that, however, if Kila proves in 2011 that he’s worth keeping around on a contending team.
If Kila shows something, then he could be bait near the trade deadline. Also, signing Butler locks down a good hitter, which increases his trade value immensely. When you’re where the Royals are, there are no untouchables. Quality depth has tangible value.
It’s funny. It just seems as if theRoyals’ fan base has little love for Kila K. Aside from one awful year in the minors his lack of PT time seems to be a case more of being held back vs non-performance. He might be limited as far as position play but he seems to be everything they lack at the mlb level…..power and great OBP potential. That’s a great combo. He just screams “young Jason Giambi/Travis Hafner” to me. In his last 3 years @ AA/AAA he’s had consecutive seasons of more BB than KO and has avg’d at least 25 hrs.
As a Yanks fan, assuming that Montero can hold the C position, I would love to see what Kila could do in NY as a left hitter with patience sandwhiched in between some professional hitters.
“It just seems as if theRoyals’ fan base has little love for Kila K.” Actually, the fan base has a lot of love for Kaaihue, it’s the front office who did stuff like trading for Mike Jacobs, blocking his path after his break-thru 2008 season. Fortunately, they seem like they want to give him a full opportunity this year. He has a lot of the same plusses Jack Cust brought to the A’s for several years, but with fewer K’s than Cust.
Btw, are you a KC fan? If so, what positions to you feel probably CAN NOT be filled by in house minor lge options?
Realistically, the only position that lacks depth in the system is corner outfield… we are also thin on right handed starters at the upper levels.
Corner outfield is barren of high-end talent; David Lough and Paulo Orlando could be viewed as CF prospects, their defense in the corners is outstanding, but little to no power to speak of. After those two, unless you count Wil Myers, which I think the Royals do, we have Tim Smith, Nick Van Stratten, Nick Francis, and Carlos Testa… there is certainly a reason you have never heard of any of those guys.
To me, Salvador Perez and Manny Pina make moving Myers to right a more than acceptable option… third is also a place that lacks some depth after Moustakas the next real prospect at the position is Cheslor Cuthbert, and at 17 years old he has a lot of time for things to go wrong, but the Gary Sheffield comparisons are nice.
Good assessment on positional depth, wcg. I think you’ll be able to add Eibner to the COF discussion by the end of the year, but yeah, some serious production corner outfield prospects would shore up the system pretty completely. I hope the Royals use some of their MecheMoney for another high-end Latin SS prospect, if available, and as you mentioned, another RHP.
Realistically, the only position that lacks depth in the system is corner outfield… we are also thin on right handed starters at the upper levels.
Corner outfield is barren of high-end talent; David Lough and Paulo Orlando could be viewed as CF prospects, their defense in the corners is outstanding, but little to no power to speak of. After those two, unless you count Wil Myers, which I think the Royals do, we have Tim Smith, Nick Van Stratten, Nick Francis, and Carlos Testa… there is certainly a reason you have never heard of any of those guys.
To me, Salvador Perez and Manny Pina make moving Myers to right a more than acceptable option… third is also a place that lacks some depth after Moustakas the next real prospect at the position is Cheslor Cuthbert, and at 17 years old he has a lot of time for things to go wrong, but the Gary Sheffield comparisons are nice.
Actually, I’m a Cardinals fan first, but live only an hour from KC and go to more Royals games these days.
The Royals’ system is thinnest at C, SS and RF (both corners, actually, but especially RF due to arm strength). It’s deepest at 1B, CF and pitching. With Butler at 1B now and Hosmer soon to arrive, Kila is kind of the odd man out. The Royals believe he can hit, but he’s no better than Butler defensively (and not close to Hosmer). As soon as Hosmer comes up, either Kila or Butler become expendable.
Isn’t Butler close to 300lbs now? DH role would be best. Royals are gonna be scary come 2012 and beyond.
Butler played last year at about 230-240.
Sorry, 250lbs, still, point stands.
The new Bob Hamelin.
But you are right…he’ll be 300 by the end of this deal. $30 million can buy a LOT of donuts.
Good too see the Royals do the right thing. They need to hold onto Soria too. I might decide to attend a couple games now (I am about 3 hours away).
Soria is still there for three or four more years (can’t recall the exact years) on a team friendly contract so there is no need extend him now. And Butler was going to be with the Royals since he’s under team control anyways. Not sure why locking him up changes your mind about attending a Royals game.
I know about Soria. I meant to keep him and not trade him. I am a Braves fan fyi, but a major league baseball fan too. I feel bad for the Royals on them having to trade players away as soon as they get good because of a cheapa$$ owner. The Royals are bad for baseball for the opposite reasons of the Yankees, they don’t spend at all. It would be nice to see a team that keeps it’s core together.
I hear ya. Ever been to their games? Field is nice too bad the attendance lacks. More fan support = bigger budget. Look at the Rays.
The Rays have to get out of Tampa! Good young team, no support, no money to resign players, not gonna fly in the AL East. Especially when their division rivals have big check books.
Well actually though, I would argue trading Soria for a good haul could easily make them a much better team, especially in the LR, than not trading him. He’s a CLOSER. He’s a luxury for them until they actually start winning games. And bullpen pitchers have always been one of the easiest players to replace. Soria himself will be hard to replace, but KC could still have a strong bullpen without him, with a couple good moves. And moving him could bring in more position player prospects, etc. that would help bolster their team going forward a lot more. Not to mention if they get his admittedly modest salary out of there, they’ll have a couple million more to work with.
I think that having the flexibility to move Soria for the right price is why the Royals were high on Jeffress.
a la pittsburgh maybe??? i would love to see the walker/tabata/alvarez/mccutcheon tandem locked up a la billy butler in kc…
4 years, 3 of which are team options.
Insert spillover rage at Tony Reagins for not extending Billy Butler here.
It feels like this is the offseason of the extension
and the very reason why the Yankees are having a time finding any MLB quality arms available
Glad to see at least one FA year was bought out. Great signing all around.
Very smart signing. Even if they don’t keep him, that contract is going to look sweet to SOMEONE in that 4th year. The Royals will get his 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th years, what should be his best, and Billy will be a FA at a young enough age to sign a mega-deal someplace else. So it IS win/win. The Royals and teams like them don’t need to keep every good/great player until they retire, but if they can keep them under affordable contracts through most of their PRIME years, they should be able to compete. This contract is a model for that kind of thinking. And as for future line-ups it will go even deeper when adding Myers to the mix.
Great deal for the Royals.
That said this thread is proof of why the Royals don’t get much love(publicity) and the Yankees, Red Sox and other big market teams do. They just extended one of their young stars and there is like 30 comments. Yankees, Red Sox or Phillies make this type of move there would be 300 comments in about 10 minutes.
Cant really compare Kansas City to New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
With a salary cap we could — see the 80’s
Butler is a good and very smart hitter. For a man of his strength, he doesn’t try to pull everything.
A salary cap would do nothing for baseball…
Why?
Not even being patronizing, just wondering the reasoning.
Either way certain teams such as the yankees, red sox, tigers will spend and others will not such as the marlins, rays etc. If you are a fan of a team such as the Yankees or Red Sox or another big market, would you rather have the owners pocket the money or invest it in the team? The cap would also have to increase with inflation etc. Theres just so many things that would have to be settled and I really dont see it happening. A cap is also pretty discriminatory as it only really affects the big markets. If you are going to make a cap, why not have a floor as well? Make the teams like the marlins spend more money…I think the mets are a good example high payroll, little results. Therefore its not how much money you have, its more of how you use it.
whether teams hit a ‘cap’ isn’t the point of a ‘cap’. By limiting a team spending 4x another team you increase competitiveness. If you add a floor so be it but a arguing a cap is bad b/c some teams wont hit it isnt the point
The point is that some teams decide to stay around the 20-50 million payroll mark and they pocket the luxury tax money. A cap makes the rich owners stop investing money into their teams and pocket the money. If I am a fan of the yankees I would much rather have the money invested into players than for the owner to just keep it. If you want to increase competitiveness the only way to do that is to be every single team in an even market. Without doing that its just not possible.
see NFL for the strengths of a real salary cap. Teams can be turned around very quickly and impossible to spend your way to the top.
You cant compare the NFL to the MLB. You cant compare the NBA to the NFL. Different leagues, different outcomes. Just like some countries have different types of laws than others, certain laws wouldnt work in certain countries.
I understand that the idea of a salary cap is something that you personally do not like, howver, your arguments are lacking. Have you ever asked yourself why the Pirates, Orioles and Royals were among the best teams in baseball for a long time before the huge salary escalations of the 90’s?
Hypothetically speaking, a 100 million dollar salary cap would not only force the big market teams to significantly cut their payroll, but would also put pressure on the small market teams to spend more — and it would be worth it because an extra 20-30 million would no longer be throwing money away because they would still be at 80-90 million and about 50% behind the big guys.
A cap would also bring the avg. salary down a little which has been needed for a long time now. Hey, maybe families could finally afford to go to a ballgames again AND actually see teams that aren’t 15 games out by the all-star break.
I wouldnt really know about the 90’s business aspect of baseball since I was born 1990. But wouldnt players have to agree to have their salaries cut? A team with a 200 million dollar payroll like the yankees cant just cut half of the team or restructure half of the teams contracts because of a cap. And I said below already, a cap would just have team owners pocketing money. If you are a fan would you not want to see money be spent on the team rather than going into the owners pockets?
A salary cap would also come with a salary floor. A salary floor will force the elimination or relocation of 2 or 3 teams that are just not viable franchizes. Also, it would mean a hel! of a lot of money (10’s of millions) taken away from the players and put back into the pockets of the owners. It’s too naive to think owners would then cut their staduim related profits.
I could also blame teams like the Pirates and Royals for having some really bad drafting over the last 20 years as well. The O’s have money. They are far from a small market team.
Exactly!! Most of these people dont understand the complications of making a salary cap and also that the owners would pocket so much extra money. I do think players salaries are too high as of right now but I dont see how you can just decrease their salaries, its really not fair to the players. I would guess the players union would also have to agree to that which I see as very unlikely.
The way the system is set up now, the owners are able to pocket money in small markets because the fans know that it is foolish to believe that the Pirates, Orioles and Royals can compete in the arena of payrolls with the Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Tigers etc.
It looks like the Packers are about to go the the Super Bowl again. If there were no salary cap in the NFL, half of their team would be on the Giants and the Cowboys and Green Bay would average about 4 wins per year.
“Most of these people dont understand the complications of making a salary cap”
My friend, you were born in 1990 — you have a lot to learn yourself, like the inherent unfairness of not having a salary cap. Baseball is supposed to be a “sport” which requires a level playing field. The way things are now, it should be referred to as a spectacle.
So why dont the teams like the Rays for example always decide to let their talent go and collect draft picks. The rays are close to the playoffs and still decide not to spend. I said this before and i will say it again, if you want an even playing field you would need every team in an even market. I just dont understand how you can punish team in bigger markets because not everyone can afford to spend as much as you do. What is this communism?
“I said this before and i will say it again, if you want an even playing field you would need every team in an even market”
Wrong, the NFL, NBA and NHL all have salary caps which disprove this. If you care to learn about blatant unfairness, you should read about the old days in the NHL when there was no draft and all young players could sign wherever they wanted and teams could sign as much of the great young talent as they so desired. Since 95 of the talent came from Canada, is it any wonder that Montreal on Toronto dominated for decades (with some good showings from Detroit)?
“So why dont the teams like the Rays for example always decide to let their talent go and collect draft picks”
Tampa Bay was so bad for so long that they couldn’t help but become competitive merely by having so many overall number one or two picks. Unfortunately, allowing Crawford to leave via FA and trading a very good young arm like Garza will mark the beginning of the end for the Rays. Just as the Marlins had some very good teams, only to become pathetic in the NL, the Rays will probably be around .500 this year, trade Longoria within a couple of years and leave the company of the Yankees and Red Sox to join the Bluejays and Orioles.
“I just dont understand how you can punish team in bigger markets”
Right now your mindset punishes the vast majority of teams in baseball, a cap would only force about 6 or 8 teams to reduce their payroll.. and bring it back to actually being a sport.
“What is this communism?”
Sports is entertainment far more than it is business. Not one owner in baseball would spend such a disproportionate amount of revenue on employee salaries in any of their other ventures, as they do in baseball.
Thanks for the exchange, you seem very reasonable.. and for the record, I’m a White Sox fan — so my proposal is based in objectivity since it would actually “punish” the Sox and help build up the Royals.
BTW, short of a salary cap, what would you think of rosters fluctuating with the team salary? Something like this:
under 60 million = 28 man roster
under 80 million = 27 man roster
under 100 million = 26 man roster
over 120 million = 24 man roster
over 150 million = 23 man roster
Enjoyed your thoughts. I have said for awhile now that if baseball would like to improve competitive balance through non-cap, revenue-sharing means, what they could and should do is give the teams with the 4 worst records 3 extra roster spots, the next 4 worse 2 extra, and the next 4 worse with one extra roster spot. Since most of the elite players end up in one of the top 8 markets, then why not use depth to counter it?
Giving the teams with the worst records an extra roster spot or 3 for a LOOGY, another platoon option, a 6th starter, a third catcher, a defensive specialist, a base-stealing PR, or whatever, would be a help. Quality vs quantity.
The players union should like it; it means 24 major-league jobs. The small markets could afford it, since those players would all be at the ML minimum end of the pay-scale. The large markets should like it because it lets them spend the way they want without having to give luxury money to the small market clubs. Everyone wins.
Isn’t that what revenue sharing is all about? And how much money do you think Glass(KC owner) will be pocketing this year?
TKO11, I guess if you take a tax law approach to the players salary, then the players salary equals the FMV. But what other sprot do you see spending this type of money on players outside of European soccer?
Exactly how much money could the Orioles spend before they started losing money?
Now be honest with yourself, at that point, how many games would they realistically win in the A.L. Central? Baltimore had a payroll of about $81 million last year — let’s say you’re right and the “OWNERS” spent 50% more on players this year. That would put them at about $120 million, which realistically would increase their win total to about 80 — still no where near the playoffs. Why are you asking them to be stupid?
Sorry, meant to say A.L. East for Baltimore not A.L. Central.
of course you can. Very simple.
That’s why the Pats, Colts, and Steelers represent the AFC in the Super Bowl almost every year right?
or 10 different NFC teams in 1o years?
Well I’ll be damned if we both aren’t right.
How many different WS winners in the last 10 years?
Dbacks, Angels, Marlins, Red Sox, White Sox, Tigers, Phillies, Yanks, Giants
. Yes, many of those teams had to go thru the Yanks but the fact is, this idea that there’s less parody in baseball isn’t true.
yet the top 4 spenders have made the playoffs at a 90%clip (obviously greater for the top 2 spenders) over the years. No guarantee of winning it all but almost guaranteed a playoff spot. That’s not parity…especially when a club can outspend #3 on the list by 100%. No other pro us sport as anything as messed up as MLB. Imagine the Eagles with a payroll of $200mill and most of there NFL teams at $90…that woudl be a joke and that is MLB
I’ve talked about this numerous times. There are way too many differences between the NFL and MLB to even think a salary cap would work.
A) Guaranteed contracts
B) Game schedule
C) Amount of games played
D) Ability to draft and integrate new talent immediately.
E) Difference in pay of offensive players vs defensive players.
How many times has a small market, Like a Green Bay, made the playoffs in MLB? Look at KC for an example. Royals won the WS in 85, never sniffed the playoffs since. Cheifs, while patthtic in the playoffs, have lost seven playoff games since 1993. Where’s your parody in MLB? I see a lot of big spending teams on your WS list there, Yanks, Boston, Chicago, Deteroit, Philly, LA.
And the Chiefs made the playoffs with the 3rd lowest salary spending, why? Because there are no NY Yankees and Bosox in NFL due to a salary cap.
YES. That’s the reason!! Has nothing to do with anything else.
Yes, but you can’t say that the salary cap had nothing to do with can you? Without a salary cap the chiefs would have no way of getting to the playoffs simply because KC and other markets like KC LACK THE MARKET TO SPEND 200 Million on a team.
And isn’t it funny, this year in the Superbowl, Pittsburg and Green Bay, small markets. Hel! of a lot better than your “parody in MLB” argument.
The Pats are the only one of those teams in a large market, though. The system allows teams from small markets such as Pittsburg and Indy to compete with the larger markets. Were they in baseball’s system the Steelers would have the success of the Pirates, and Indy, well, they’d have no team at all.
Or Indy would have the Royals, which is pretty close to no team. . .
Heh, it sounds all nice and cute arbitrarily, but when you get into the specifics, people abandon the argument. It’s like politicians saying “we need budget cuts” and can’t name anything significant when asked what they would cut.
So, what should the salary cap be?
Your title says it all my friend “East Coast Bias”
As does yours? heh
Seriously though, if someone would man up and give me a figure, then we can have dialogue about it. But until then, people will throw out catch phrases, but never any specifics. C’est la vie.
That’s because they have a bigger fanbase.
If only the royals would have done this with any other home grown players or any players in general that aren’t Mike Sweeney or Gil Meche
Guessing Butler will go be the DH once Hosmer comes up? Butler being the DH or even traded away for prospects is just as good.
What’s the prize for having the best farm system (and the worst team in the majors)?
…historically, the prize has been a playoff birth within 4 years of being announced by BA as having one…
Arizona Diamondbacks had one of the top farms ever a few years ago. They seem to be doing good now.
Arizona was IN the playoffs in 2007 one year after being named BA’s minor league system of the year in ’06. Would you like to at least pick an exception to what I said about teams reaching the playoffs within 4 years? And I never said anything about what they’re doing now, you did.
Having fans that don’t act like whining children and/or arrogant jerks, I would think.
???
The 2012 Playoffs, and the 2013 WS, and the 2014 WS, and the 2015 WS
So, is Ka’aihue available then? Would like him on the Rockies.
Good move by Dayton Moore, who has quietly had a very nice offseason. As a Royals fan that has wanted to strangle him at times, I gotta give props to him. Respectable return on trading our best player in a decade, quietly signed some benchgap players with something to prove to one year deals, and locked up Butler on the condition he starts trying to leg out his 100 infield dribblers. I’ve honestly never been this excited about a team that is a lock to lose 100 games, I can’t wait to start seeing this talent finally manifest in Kansas City. Hopefully, just hopefully, better days are on the horizon.
I do hope you don’t really think the Melky and Frenchy signings were part of a nice offseason. Yuck.
Judging by the picture next to your name, I can see how you wouldn’t consider it a good offseason. But here’s the thing, if my team’s GM signs the wrong free agent to a big deal, it cripples our franchise for years. Meanwhile, your team’s GM can still skate by despite signing all the Daisuke Matsuzakas, JD Drews, Marco Scutaros, Keith Foulkes, Matt Clements, Edgar Renterias, and Julio Lugos of the world.
That being said, signing three free agents, who have all had success at one point in their careers and are on the right side of 30, to one year deals is part of a nice offseason. Ya dig?
Scutaro hasn’t exactly been a bad signing. It has not been great, but it is not awful.
No, I was just calling him signing two of the absolute worst players in MLB not great. The deal for Greinke was solid and this Butler deal is looking better and better. But, those two deals just don’t help the club next year at all. I am not expecting them to sign lots of FA’s to multi-year deals but I feel like GMDM could have made a couple of better pickups than those two.
Nice tp see that prejudices run both ways with major and minor market fans.
Neither Cabrera nor Francouer are considered more than gap players until the kids come up. If either or both crap out, it’s a low-price one-year deal which can at least produce ABs. If both or either show something, then they can either lock down a spot or bring value at the trading deadline. A small-market franchise cannot just throw money at players; it has to find small values here and there which may either upgrade positions or bring players which eventually well. The farm system has to constantly be fed when the top-end payroll — and this only if and when the team is on the verge of contending — is in the $70-80M range (and under $50M in 2010).
I think one can argue that regardless of the length of the deals Cabrera and Melky have little upside. I guess the truth might be that it’s difficult to lure the Damons, Mannys or Thomes to KC as they are clearly in rebuild mode and vets would probably take a little less to play for a contender. That being said, little is on the line if Melky and Franky give you nothing.
The Royals are sellers of the Damons, Mannys and Thomes, not the buyers. In fact, Damon came from the Royals’ farm system, but was unaffordable (Scott Boras client then). Unless he’s another George Brett, one’s unlikely to see any Royals player spend his entire career in Kansas City — and the last thing a Kauffman Stadium team needs is an aging slugger who can’t play D (like the Damons, Mannys and Thomes). Those are AL East types, but don’t fit the (high-tech) cow pasture that is The K. Melky and Frenchy are low-risk corner OFs who either contribute or don’t; neither is important to the Royals in the long term, unless he begins to fulfill the potential they displayed when younger (sometimes that happens, more often it doesn’t).
I understand all that and I understand why they signed Melky and Frenchy. I was just pointing out that the Royals are not capable of attracting vet like that so the Melkys and the Frenchys are the way to go.
Maybe because MLB doesn’t have a salary cap??
…or John Lackey, who’s easily worth the $61 million in 4 years he’s do (and he’s 31 so his best years are ahead of him, he-he), but hey, when your payroll is $160, what’s $30-50 million in poor judgements when you still have $120 million to correct them?
Ah I forgot John Lackey in my previous post, that would have REALLY driven home my point!
The 5th year club option makes this a great deal for the Royals.
Especially if he starts to hit some home runs and stop grounding into 20 double plays a season!!
To all of those asking about Kila… I have a feeling he’ll be evaluated this year. If he shows something, they might move Hosmer to a corner OF spot. One thing our prosperous minors system hasn’t produced is COF’ers (althoug Myers will change that once he switches from catcher this year, hehe).
We may also trade him off for the right price. But I see that as less viable an option as he’s not even played a full season yet.
Seriously, I see Kila as a .250/20/70 type of guy with average (or slightly above)defense. He did have a high OBP in the minors, but he K’d quite a bit last year in his two months in KC.
Honestly, I haven’t figured out why Hosmer hasn’t been linked to RF in the past. I’ve watched him play a ton of games and he’s very athletic, not to mention he has a very strong arm. I believe he could easily be a solid outfielder. If Kila hits, I’d love to see him stay and Hosmer play RF. However, I think they will trade Ka’aihue at the deadline if he’s showing something and call up Hosmer to pair with Billy at first. Kila’s bat would be nice in our lineup.
I think it’s more about the fact that Hosmer can actually play his position quite well. Too many guys in the Royals’ farm system are 1B/LF/DH types with average or below-average gloves — especially Clint Robinson. He looked like Sloth from “The Goonies” in his limited on-field work in 2010. I’d even go as far to say that Mike Moustakas isn’t a good defensive third baseman, which makes him movable if necessary. There are two many ambiguous “sluggers” in the system right now, which makes for a deceptively “deep” farm system.
Solid signing for KC, he should perform to that contract if he stays healthy. I’m not quite sure how well he’ll age, but over the next 4 years he should be pretty good for 20hr’s/45dbls/.290/.360obp. They also get one of his Free Agent years at a nice price. Good job KC.
I don’t know much about KC’s farm but i know they have a stellar class coming soon, doesn’t Moustakus (spelling is wrong, i know) play 1B?
3B, and he’s become adequate there, though he could always get worse and have to be moved off.
…well, yeah, I guess he could become worse, but usually 21 year-old players tend to get BETTER. Now, he may not improve enough to stay at 3rd but to say ‘he could always get worse’…you might as well say, ‘Of course, he could always get hit by a bus or be abducted by aliens’. I guess that could happen but that’s not normally the way things go.
very team-friendly deal. take notes walt jockety
This move actually surprises me a little bit. With Ka’aihue and Hosmer, I figured that Butler would be the odd man out. I at least thought that they would wait until Hosmer got to Kansas City and assessed the three of them before making an extension decision. I guess a big question would be whether Ka’aihue or Hosmer will be the odd man out; or perhaps they will find a place for all three? One could play first, one DH, and one in the outfield? If not, send Ka’aihue or Hosmer to Pittsburgh! This is a log-jam that I have been waiting a year to play out. LOL… (wishful thinking is OK) ;)
I didn’t read any posts before I made my own and it appears that everyone has been addressing the same things as I intended. Good!
Many teams have won with less than steller defensive firts basemen. With Butler signed to a long term affordable deal maybe now is the best time to deal him. His contract position and what they can return in a trade makes me think the Rays would be a perfect fit for Butler and the perfect trading partner for the Royals.
Look at the FA class the last few years, Ordonez 1 year deal, Thome 1 year deal, Vlad 1 year deal, Jones 1 year deal, Manny one year deal. A young Royals team with a shot to win would be appealing to many FA DH’s. These guys have been affordable and the Royals would probably be better trading a very affordable Butler to any number of teams who love the fact he is locked up in return for prospects ready to play at the ML level. They would probably be better with a return of a prospect for a need position, Hosmer at first and signing a DH than just slotting Butler in the DH slot.
Even the Orioles who signed Lee to a one year deal could be a match. Acquiring Butler to play first and sliding Lee into the DH slot and using him as a backup first baseman would make them better over the long term. If they would trade Pie and Tillman for Blanton trading those same two for Butler looks like a win win to me.
Baseball has changed and the players that will bring the largest return in a trade are those that are exactly like Butler, young guys who have proven to be good players, who are affordable for a few years. Teams can justify giving up top prospects for a guy like this and will more often than for a deadline rental or for a guy like AGone who you will have to almost immediately commit big money to. For some reason I think the Rays getting Butler and taking a flier on Gordon could really work out well for them with the Royals getting legit impact prospects in return.
Good signing. He could be the next big first baseman.