The Royals have agreed to terms on a minor league deal with Kevin Kouzmanoff that includes an invite to Spring Training, reports ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Kouzmanoff, who will serve as an insurance policy for Mike Moustakas, will earn $1MM if he makes the big league club and has $300K worth of incentives based on plate appearances. The deal allows Kouzmanoff to opt out of his contract if he's not in the Majors by May 1 (All Twitter links).
The 30-year-old Kouzmanoff has never been able to match the offensive production he posted in his first two full seasons with the Padres, when he batted .266/.313/.443 (105 OPS+) with 41 homers. Since that time he's hit only .248/.291/.401 with 41 more home runs for the Padres, A's, and Rockies.
His defense has really turned a corner though, as he's posted positive UZRs in every year since 2008, including UZR/150 marks of 7.5 and 16.1 in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Kouzmanoff is represented by agents Matt Sosnick and Paul Cobbe.
I always liked Kouz. Slick glove and a decent hitter away from the caverns of Petco and the Colliseum but he also had trouble finding a walk. Always hoped he’d catch on to a team in a more hitter friendly park.
Lot of whistling past the graveyard here.
Just curious of what people will think of this i may get ripped apart.
Royals get – Hughes, Betances and Nunez.
Yankees get – Alex Gordon
I think the Royals would be out of their minds to do that. The scary part is, I wouldn’t put it past a team that signed Jeff Francouer and Yuniskey Betancourt in consecutive offseasons to get it done.
I don’t think it’s that insane for a guy with only 2years of control left and only had 1 year of an ops over .800. I just think it’s better for them to get something in return for him if they can’t work out an extension because they won’t be competitors until they can throw out a respectable rotation and Hughes and Betances can help that problem. Maybe the yanks add one more player to even it out.
IMO, this is Gordon’s true talent level and the Royals should be saving up cash to sign him to an extension if he can come close to this again.
I don’t see them moving Gordon, but especially not for an average at best pitcher in Hughes and a B prospect with control issues.
Thanks for the opinions guys gave me some different views.
From what I hear Betances will most likely be a reliever. Hughes is a product of the Yankee offense mainly. Ehh Gordon is a late bloomer but he was really good last year, I would rather just keep him if I was the Royals.
I’m not going to defend signing Yuni back but Francouer had an excellent year with a 119 OPS+ and great defense. Time will tell if he has turned a corner or not but no one criticize the initial signing. Well, except those that don’t bother to check the facts, that is.
I think that would be a fair deal for both sides. Gordon had a very good season, but it’s the first of his career. It’s easier to sell high on a guy like Melky Cabrera though because Gordon always had this kind of potential and it may just be the start of something.
Its not a fair deal because it doesn’t really help the Royals in anyway what ever. We aren’t the kind of team to just give away players anymore. Nunez how exactly does he help the Royals?? Betances is a B prospect and Hughes value is very low. The Royals all ready have plenty of B prospect type pitchers we don’t need another. Hughes wouldn’t even really fit much into our team. I have some health concerns about him as well. Gordon had the 9th best WAR in the league and was one of the best outfield defenders in the league. Gordon wants to resign with the Royals and that will make his value higher when he does espesially if he performs well next year. I think the Royals would ask for the moon C Gary Sanchez, P Dellin Betances, P Manny Banuelos, ,and PTBNL like P Jordan Cote/ OF Ravel Santana etc. The Royals are no hurry to move Gordon whatsoever.
This is probably Kouz’s last chance to click. His range is not very good, but his fielding within that range now is pretty amazing. He did send his glove into Cooperstown after breaking the best fielding percentage in a year for a third basemen (3 seasons ago?). His offense seems to be getting consistently worse and his walk ratio continues to be abysmal. Yet, you never know with this guy. He was a top prospect at one time and this is his last chance to prove himself. I predict a surprisingly good year from him off the bench and into the starting lineup.