DECEMBER 18, 1:24pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links) pegs the potential base salary at $2MM and says that Gee can earn up to $3.3MM in incentives as a starter or up to $700K as a reliever. He also adds that the opt-out ended up being for March 15th, which is still an early date.
11:03am: Gee’s base salary, if he’s on the major league roster, would be $1.75MM, Heyman tweets.
DECEMBER 14, 8:11pm: Gee can opt out of his contract on March 2nd if he has not yet been added to the 40-man roster, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports on Twitter.
That’s an unusually early date, and certainly gives Gee plenty of leverage entering the spring. Most opt-outs occur at the end of camp (if not later), allowing clubs time not only to assess performance but also to look for alternatives.
In this case, Kansas City will be forced into an earlier decision. That makes sense, given that the Royals had to lure Gee away from major league offers from other clubs, per Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter), though those reportedly came from “rebuilding clubs.”
Gee also gets significant salary upside, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The contract includes performance incentives that could bring its total value as high as $5.3MM or so. While the details remain unreported, Passan suggests that Gee could max out the deal with a full season’s worth of starts and an innings tally at or near his career high of 199 frames.
5:35pm: The Royals have struck a minor league deal with veteran righty Dillon Gee, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. Gee opted for free agency after a mid-season outright.
2014 was a disappointing season for the 29-year-old, who lost his rotation spot with the Mets after scuffling out of the gates to a 5.90 ERA. Gee’s peripherals suggested that he was much the same pitcher as always, but New York obviously had good reason to believe that youngster Noah Syndergaard was ready to take his place — and offer an upgrade.
That’s no slight to the generally sturdy Gee, who owns a 4.03 ERA in his 679 1/3 career frames. Kansas City will presumably look at Gee as a bullpen or back-of-the-rotation depth piece, and he makes a good bit of sense in that swingman capacity.
As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca observes on Twitter, the righty could make for a nice match with the deep K.C. pen if he’s utilized as a starter. Over his career, Gee has been quite good the first two times through the order but has allowed a .806 OPS the third time through.
Smart move by the Royals. Gee know how to compete he had his up and down but he could have a solid year next season if he makes the team or gets a spot in the rotation.
Quite but good move by the Royals.
Perfect Royals move for the Royals. Cheap borderline starting pitcher to pair with their superior bullpen.
Guthrie, Santana, Young..Volquez….GMDM has a knack for grabbing the right SP at the right time
Wonder who’ll give Johan / Tim / Cliff a chance.
Timmy’s doing a showcase in January. I think Lee is an intriguing thought. LAD, NYY, LAA?
Lee going to surprise after July but Gee needed to go to the Brewers or the Braves to be there number #2 or 3 guy . But would be bounced in July for prospects.
I feel like I’m reading weird poetry when you place a comment. Always reminds me of why a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Stay in school kids.
It’s like free verse!
I don’t understand why you feel all these huge trades would ever happen, it’s so rare for these to happen and not be a three team deal or four team deal, no team is gonna do the trades you propose because they are so far fetched and even when you try to back your trades with “logic” they still don’t make sense, the only thing the Indians get out of this is an injury prone first basemen and an inconsistent starter, a fossil of a reliever in grilli who isn’t great, a questionable middle infielder in Garcia, inciarte is the only good part of this deal nobody knows if he will keep up what he’s done considering he’s only done it for two years, meanwhile the Indians give up basically the whole game system…makes no sense to me but you clearly have all these scenarios figured out so in sure the next time a GM spot opens up your gonna get the first call, I’m not saying I make good trade proposals because I honestly don’t but your trade proposals make everyone on here look like genius seasoned Gms with endless experience in the job, please stop with these proposals they give everyone headaches
STOP POSTING PLEASE!!! THESE TRADES ARE STUPID AND WOULD NEVER HAPPEN!!
If you look at that ’88 deal and the deal you proposed are two very different events. I too, enjoy the big blockbuster. But a more realistic thing I see for the Indians is trading for the Todd father. Doubt a deal will happen, because the asking price is so high.
Please leave this man alone.
Just leave this guy alone.
Finding value where no one is looking.
Great sneaky move by the Royals.
I like it.
most logical trade ive seen
Now let’s go get Kazmir and starters are set. Keep Duffy in the pen with Hoch, Soria, Davis Herrera, Gee/Young/ Medlen and Alexander the rookie lefty.
Good cheap signing. Wouldnt be surprised if he found himself thriving in the bullpen for KC. Always seem to find a way to turn mediocre SP’s into dominant bullpen arms (i.e. Davis, Hochevar in recent years). Interesting to see how this will play out.