Royals designated hitter Kendrys Morales has changed agents, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). He’ll now be represented by the Wasserman Media Group.
Morales has thrived in Kansas City, where he landed this winter on a two-year, $17MM deal. Over 639 plate appearances, Morales has slashed a robust .290/.362/.485 with 22 home runs.
That pre-2015 contract came despite a forgettable 2014 season in which Morales struggled badly after waiting to sign until the middle of the year. He was unable to find a suitable multi-year deal after declining a qualifying offer, precipitating the delay.
Represented at the time by the Boras Corporation, Morales ultimately landed with the Twins on a deal that ended up paying him about $7.5MM (a prorated $12MM annual salary). He was later dealt to the Mariners, but never got into a groove at the plate.
The Royals have made good on their bet, as Morales has returned to his typical level of offensive productivity. While he is all but limited to DH duties, that suits Kansas City just fine given the presence of Eric Hosmer at first.
Because they bought low, the Royals will owe Morales just $9MM next year in the slightly backloaded deal structure. His contract also includes an $11MM mutual option ($1.5MM buyout) for the 2017 campaign.
Kendrys Morales is the main reason or at least the main example as to why I want to either keep Matt Wieters or at least offer him a Qualifying Offer.
If Matt comes back to form, like Kendrys did here, with another team and the O’s get absolutely nothing out of it, I am not going to be pleased!
I have a hard time seeing them pass on making the QO to Wieters. It seems so unlikely that he’d accept given his age, position, agent, history of hitting for power. If he surprisingly accepted, he’d have a chance at living up to the salary anyhow.
I’d say it’s one they have to make, especially considering the diminished state of their farm system.
Yes, exactly.
However, you should see the raging battles on Orioles sites about it.
The fans have always been like that towards him at least the ones that blog. Honestly, if he didn’t have elbow problems in 2014, he worked really hard on his swing and was looking good that year, he might have won the batting title that year. I thought his swing looked exceptional. Plus, his bat was coming to life at the end of 2015 again. So, yes I would do it.