4:03pm: ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that Gordon’s contract comes with “significant” deferrals, pushing the present-day value of the contract south of the surface-level $18MM average annual value.
2:36pm: Not many thought it could be done, but the same could be said of the Royals’ remarkable World Series run. Kansas City officially announced today that it has agreed to a club-record contract with star left fielder Alex Gordon that could keep him in the organization for the rest of his career.
Gordon, a client of Excel Sports Management, reportedly gets a $72MM guarantee over a four-year term. He’ll receive $12MM next year, $16MM in 2017, and then $20MM apiece in the next two seasons. There’s also a mutual option for $23MM, with a $4MM buyout.
While the contract does not contain an opt-out clause or no-trade protection, that $4MM buyout would convert to a trade bonus in the even of a deal, with the option itself being voided. And Gordon will soon achieve ten-and-five rights. With 8.092 years of service entering the season, he would be in line to qualify for full no-trade protection during the 2017 campaign.
The contract figures noted above would appear to suggest that middle ground was found between team and player. It had been suggested that K.C. was only offering around a $12MM to $13MM annual value, with a deal seeming unlikely. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes had credited the veteran with earning power in the five-year, $105MM range entering the winter. Whether or not offers ever materialized at that level, there were by all appearances numerous other teams with serious interest in his services.
It certainly sounds like an appealing price tag for the defending-champion Royals, who will retain a homegrown star and fill a key need in one fell swoop. But it still took a club-record guarantee to get things done. Gordon’s deal now becomes the largest ever to hit the franchise’s books, topping the $55MM promises made previously to Mike Sweeney and Gil Meche.
While Gordon doesn’t have huge power numbers and is entering his age-32 season, he remains quite a nice buy at $18MM annually. That’s all the more true given that Kansas City was only required to commit to a four-year term. All said, the closest comparable (as to contract terms) might be last winter’s pact between the Tigers and Victor Martinez. While he obviously featured a much bigger bat than Gordon, he also was entering his age-36 season and was limited to DH duties.
As was the case with Martinez, the move will effectively cost the Royals a draft choice. Gordon’s decision to decline a qualifying offer meant that the club would’ve added a sandwich-round pick had he signed elsewhere.
The primary value of the veteran left fielder lies in his above-average bat and outstanding glove, though his highly-praised clubhouse presence surely adds to the appeal. Gordon missed some time last year with a groin strain, but has generally been quite durable.
Dating back to 2011, when the former top prospect finally emerged as a major league force, Gordon has been a consistently productive presence in the Kansas City lineup. He owns a composite .281/.359/.450 slash over that span, with about twenty long balls per year. Though he’s probably not a double-digit stolen base threat any longer, but has generally received well-above-average ratings on the basepaths.
That makes for a solid-enough package in its own right, but it’s Gordon’s defense that has made him into a legitimate superstar. Both UZR and DRS rate him as an elite gloveman, with above-average performance in terms of arm, range, and mistake-free handling of chances.
Gordon’s excellent reputation in terms of makeup and work ethic also add to his value as he nears his mid-thirties. He did take a step back last year on the bases and in the field, though it’s certainly possible that the groin injury is largely to blame. While it’s probably not prudent to expect that he’ll continue to perform at up to a six-win clip, Gordon seems a good bet to continue to provide well-above-average production over the duration of his new contract.
MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan first reported the signing and the annual breakdown (Twitter links). Jeff Passan tweeted this morning that a deal could come together quickly between the two sides. Passan (via Twitter), Jon Heyman (all links to Twitter), and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (in a tweet) all contributed financial details.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Gordon must of taken a very good home town discount to stay with the royals
Disagree. 5 95 id assume
Looks like youre way off, he did take a lil discount.
Jered Weaver, Brandon Crawford, Alex Gordon – keeping the 1-team player alive!
Weaver is a boras client and he upset him I think, he took a 5 year 85 mill contract to stay with the team he calls home.
Crawford has like 4 years service time…
You don’t get it.
Weaver: local guy, took discount.
Crawford: literally grew up as a Giants season ticket holder, had huge breakout season, signed a 6/75 deal which takes him through his age 34 season, when, since opening day 2014, he has been the best SS in baseball via fWAR. He could have gotten significantly more than 75M but bleeds SFG and has said he will most likely retire than play for another team..
Well put…
I honestly don’t expect Weaver to take a 2nd home town deal…to finish his career….I think he will try to maximize his declining performance as much as possible…I could also see him retire after this season if he doesn’t perform to the level he demands of himself…
@Just Another Fan (site doesn’t have a reply button for your comment but does for mine, great architecture…):
I get it now. It wasn’t overly explicit in your comment (didn’t know Weaver was local to his team) but yeah your comment made sense.
But seeing as how none of those players is particularly close to retirement maybe you should revise the list by removing them all and replacing them with retired guys who have actually achieved the feat.
@cxcx (agreed with the new comments format)
Yeah I wasn’t totally clear, I meant to mean “local guys who took a hometown discount”.
I honestly think we won’t see Crawford or Weaver on another team. Grodon maybe will, but even still, I wonder if due to taxes, making $70M in one state vs $100M in another is even that big a deal?
What about Felix Hernandez? He could of declined all the extensions, hit free agency and gotten a lot more money with someone else, instead he took less with the Mariners, and while crying in his press conference, he said he wants to win the Mariners a championship. I would think that Hernandez is a one team player
I agree he’s a one team player – but he’s not a Seattle native, or even from somewhere close to Washington. Plus he’s getting paid pretty much market rate, $22-27M a year
Gordon – Nebraska (sort of close to KC)
Weaver – Northridge, Los Angeles
Crawford – SF Bay Area
Different style of 1-team player. Felix’s deal is only a minor discount too, not even close to the realm of the ones Weaver and Crawford took.
Don’t forget about Joe Mauer.
8/184 (in 2010) wasn’t really a hometown discount though.
Guess I forgot to put in “1-team player who took a hometown discount” which was what I was thinking about – that’s on me.
It really was a bit of a hometown discount though. People were talking about the Yankees offering him well over $200M. Obviously the $184M deal did not turn out as Minnesota expected, but people forget just how good he was back then.
JAF, i don’t think Crawford really gave much of a hometown discount; any discount was for the fact that he was years from hitting the open market. He was two years from free agency and signed away his FA years at like 4/62. If he had a monster year heading into free agency then sure he could have approached or even topped $100m. But if he had a down year he could’ve spent months begging around the league for $62m. Just ask Ian Desmond.
What about Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina? They didn’t even wait for free agency to sign below-market extensions with the Cardinals, and neither of them even grew up in St. Louis.
Jered Weaver is up next year, right? Let’s see if he keeps it one-team.
True, I think he either takes a 1 or 2 year deal with LAA, or retires early.
I don’t see weaver pitching for another team, he’s an angel for life, he’s not the ace he once was but he’s still a solid pitcher, he’s a great leader and the perfect mentor for the young pitchers they have.
Weaver isn’t going anywhere
It’s only a discount if another team offered him more, which at this time, no report of that happening has come out. Currently, he simply signed for the best offer.
reports say 4 years 70 million
Now saying $72 million over 4 years
Gordon must *have*
It’s only 2 mil less than what he wanted
This just seemed like the best deal for Gordon. Loves KC and being with the one franchise for his whole career appears to mean a lot to him. Good for Gordon and the Royals.
Maybe this was a case of he better take the offer they have cause the market is looking slim for out field contracts? Lets face it none of the best free agent’s have taken any deals. I think the market is dropping for there demand faster then they realize. If there offer was any where above 75 mil I am sure he and his agent said lets jump on it.
I think that teams are valuing pitching more then position players now a days.
Front offices are realizing a lot of outfielders age badly and the drop off tends to be dramatic and sudden, so nobody wants to pay big dollars for several years to a guy who could be below replacement value for half the deal, especially most teams at least have one outfield prospect somewhere in their system.
Hmm, that may explain why the only previous big outfield domino to fall was the guy who’s only 26 years old.
Then again, a lot of teams haven’t been that concerned at expected age-related drop off at any position before. There would really be a lot fewer albatross contracts out there if more GMs only focused on offering top free dollars only up to a player’s age 36 season.
Sorry, I meant “free agent dollars.”
Awesome for Royal fans and good for Gordon. Keep some of those key guys and keep moving forward. Hopefully this outfield market gets moving too because it’s been stale lately. Wonder if there will be more interest in the trade market now too with guys like CarGo, Gardner and others out there.
Smart move on both sides; I want to see the $/years
Yay! If he had gone somewhere else I would have been really sad…
Glad I don’t have to wrap my head around seeing him in a different uniform. Now hopefully the deal is fruitful for both sides without preventing the Royals from signing at least a couple of its other core people in the near future.
Finally Gordon is coming back, definitely a guy who can’t just join any other team, I’m happy to see him choose KC but I’m interested to see how many years they signed him.
Holy cow if 4/70 is correct he took QUITE a hometown discount. Or maybe there are just that many outfield options? Hope Al Avila is calling Cespedes right now…
A big discount, where were the white sox. I am sure they could of offered him the same kind of offer.
From what I remember seeing, they didn’t want to go over three years.
Now where will Cespedes and Upton go
Upton gets at least $150mil from someone
Cespedes has always been the toughest to peg because of his reputation. His quirkiness and attitude issues are scaring off a lot of teams because they’re worried how $100+ million will change him… I’m not sure the White Sox can afford that type of money, but there’s probably less fear from the White Sox if they believe that Jose Abreu can keep Cespedes in line.
Upton, though, I believe is going to Baltimore. I’ve always believed that, and nothing has changed my mind.
Cespedes hit .290 35hrs. Obviously it hasn’t affected his play. Haven’t seen where he’s been in trouble. B/c people are different, doesn’t make them bad.
I think the only time I saw attitude problems was in Boston, where they wanted him to either try a new OF position, or focus on defense and he refused.
Yoenis Cespedes has absolutely no attitude problems, his mother (a Cuban HOFer) would never let him disrespect the game.
Please don’t lump all Cubans into the Puig basket – it reflects poorly on you.
Ces has some swagger, but he isn’t disrespectful like Puig. He was traded multiple times for post-season runs…not his attitude. I’d love him to go back to the Mets, but that is highly unlikely.
I agree with Upton to the O’s. Im not a fan of his game, but he is a much better bet than dropping $150m on Davis…who is the epitome of an all-or-nothing bat.
Can I ask what’s wrong with his game? Other than being consistently in 25-30hr range over .800ops with solid Defense
Hold on one second… I never lumped him into the Puig basket. I merely stated facts that his attitude has come into question by many teams, and that its the holdup with giving him $100+ million.
The guy has been criticized in the past because he tends to do his own thing. You can look at the Boston trade for examples of this. And while being quirky and doing your own thing doesn’t necessarily make someone a bad person – their passion for the game should be called into question when they injure themselves on the golf course during the NLCS, especially when that injury causes him to hit .150 in the World Series.
Seriously – how do you give franchise-altering money to a guy that is more interested in his handicap than the World Series?
So go on, cite all the stats you want about the guy – no one is debating that he’s insanely talented at baseball. But there’s a reason that you haven’t heard his name attached to huge offers this winter – and it’s not because of the talent. Guys that put up his numbers tend to have $175 million offers by now
Cespedes doesnt seem to have any character issues. No one should be looking at him for that. His name has been attached to big offers, the problem is that all teams seem to be tapped out. Even big market teams like the Tigers and Angels seem to be tapped out.
Why would he move to a team he wouldn’t want to play for as much for not more or much more money?
I thought the Cardinals would of made an offer for him
Supposedly they did. It was probably in the same range, from what I’ve heard…….so he went back to familiar ground
The Cardinals don’t seem to want to spend all the $$$ on free agents. (they have boatloads of $$$) They signed Leake to a 5 year $80 mil deal, but they almost had to after losing both Lynn (injury) and Lackey (FA). They need Upton’s bat in the middle of their lineup, maybe Gordon’s deal will drive the price down to where the Cards are more comfortable. But I really don’t think it will.
I guess I sort of assumed he could have made more than a little more money elsewhere. Perhaps not there. In any case, good for him, good for KC, and now it will be interesting to see if his contract WAS a discount or if the market’s just not as robust as expected.
No discount involved. Just the Market taking its shape. Gordon should be worth no more than 20 MM/ year, and that’s pretty much what he got. Fair signing for a team that was in need of an OF. I’m still hoping Span comes to Detroit, so This removes KC from that market, and hopefully helps set his price lower.
I agree, Im not sure any team would have really offered much more.
Great deal for the Royals. I’d be surprised if that’s the best offer Gordon got, but there’s something to be said for staying in a place you’re comfortable. Glad to see a happy ending for both sides here.
Happy to see Gordon staying where he was brought up in the KC system. The white sox better kick those tires and open up the wallet and get cespedes now. Otherwise this glass half full approach towards winning is garbage. Either tank and full rebuild or give yourself the pieces to succeed in your current window. Right now this is not enough to win. Pick a direction.
Unless they trade Garcia , move Melky to right and get either upton or cespedes
While part of the reason for the low guarantee can be credited to a discount, it’s clear that teams didn’t view him as a 100 million dollar player. Defensive WAR only gets you so far.
He’s too old to get big money/years – his bat is outstanding, what are you talking about??
Good on Gordon, would have to imagine with him staying that the Tigers and White Sox get active again. I’ve always found Upton to be someone that would fit with the Tigers and still believe Cespedes ends up on the White Sox. AL Central would probably be the best division in baseball when looking at all 5 teams since all of them should be contenders, on paper that is
Don’t expect the Tigers to toss away any more picks. That was DD’s m.o., and he is now in Boston. Cespedes has always been liked by Detroit Scouting, and is a remote possibility, but I don’t see his price dropping enough. Avila has publicly stated no more major signings. I just don’t see Mr. Illitch choosing to overstep his brand new GM, right after hiring him. That is why I think Denard Span, if healthy, could be a fit.
Good point on DD being gone. If Illitch goes over Al to sign someone then you can bet on some animosity in that organization. I like Span’s fit there but if the offseason plays out how some expect it to with one of the big bats ending up in the central I wouldn’t be shocked to see the tigers or White Sox jump into the fight again for the big names. Illitch may be more win-now than the White Sox are notorious for so could become quite interesting.
I think Avila and Mr. I are working very closely together on this Winter’s signings. Another way to look at this situation is Avila stated “”no more major signings” because Illich told him behind closed doors he did not want to go over the Luxury Tax ceiling. Now if there is a change in Mr. I’s thinking, I believe it would be a matter of him giving Avila the go ahead to go after Cespedes,Upton,etc. It would not be the owner going over his GM’s head but them working together on a new course. I would hope it would be done that way.
The pick is of little value. Their first round pick is protected.
To give some perspective, that second round pick would likely be lower ranked that FIVE of the players they got at the trading deadline last year.
The pick has value because the farm system is weak. It would be a different situation if the system was strong. Avila knows that prospects are what teams trade to stock up at the deadline. The Tigers cannot continue playing for this year only. The player they take with that pick will probably be ranked among their top ten prospects, their system is so weak.
You watching Panda?
Why would the Giants want that scrub? He fell off a cliff once he left – you got out just in time!
Apparently the Giants were strict with his weight. When he went to the redsox, he stopped caring about staying in shape. Had he stayed with SF, he would have been the same player he was before
Matt Duffy: half the weight, twice the production.
what a great wake up surprise
This is probably a good move for Gordon.s I am not sure it is a good move for KC. Yes it shows some loyalty….which is finally nice to see for Royals fans. However the reality it that Hosmer, Cain, and Moose are nearing free agency. Reality is the Royals can’t afford many bigger contracts. This could take them out of the market to keep any of those guys. I think the Royals would have been smarter trying to lock up Hosmer and then go from there.
That is my personal opinion.
when they become free agents , no way the royals will be able to afford all of them because Hosmer and the Moose are boras clients
sad reality of a team that only gets 20 mil or so from their tv contract.
Locking up Hosmer won’t happen. The guy is going to hit FA in his prime and is going to sign a monster deal. Scott Boras doesn’t let his star players sign contracts prior to FA.
Weaver did
CarGo did as well.
DIdn’t CarGo want to sign a big contract since he was getting traded a bunch and finally got a full year in the big leagues and didn’t want to wait another 4 years to make a ton? And then fired his agent and Hired Scott Boras just to negotiate that contract?
Hosmer isn’t coming back, that’s a foregone conclusion. They won’t give him 150 mil in two years.. Cain will be old by the time the Royals lose club control, but some other team will overpay for him. Esky is gone soon with Raul Mondesi in the pipeline. Moose is the only one I could see being re-signed, but it depends what he does the next couple years and if he wants to say in KC. That’s just reality in this market. I think signing Gordon was a nice gift to the fans/city and the face of the franchise (and longest tenured Royal). As long as we’re competitive the next two years, we’ll live with overpaying for a declining outfielder the final two years as we ready the Gordon statue of his HR from game 1 of the WS. .
Wow what a hometown discount, great to see a player put loyalty over the top bid! Now the Orioles need to close Davis up and hopefully this will show him you don’t need to wait for the last penny to drop.
What higher offer are you aware of that no one else knows about?
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s frontloaded. Use the money from 2 straight WS trips and then knock it back down after 17 when the team has only Perez and Ventura commited right now so they can sign some other people. something like 21, 20, 16, 15
Nope, its backloaded and has deferred payments.
My only questions that haven’t been talked about yet are
A) Is there a NTC?
B) KC doesn’t lose a pick for this, do they? And Cespedes doesn’t have one attached either, out of the bigger names its just Upton, Desmond, Chen, Gallardo and Davis left who have one attached?
You don’t lose a pick for signing your own FA
That’s what I thought. This definitely should kick the Orioles/Davis reunion back into gear, and Cespedes should fall soon.
No idea what happens with Upton.
I know Arte Moreno said that he wasen’t going over the luxury tax but he has said he would for the right player, could that player be Upton or Cespedes or does he go low tier for a guy like Parra or Span.
There doesn’t have to be a NTC, he’s 1 year away from his 10 and 5 rights in which a player can only be traded with their approval
It’s really just a matter of semantics. Once the player declines the QO, you are lined up to get a pick. If you re-sign the player, you don’t get that choice. From the perspective of market competition, then, the team that issued the QO is in much the same boat as others — except that they only stand not to gain a sandwich pick, rather than losing their first non-protected pick. (This obviously matters quite a bit if you are sitting with the 11th overall choice, say.)
Thanks for clearing that up!
Yeah – opposite. Royals are in win now mode and still need cash to sign another SP.
not sure who they can afford to sign
They CAN afford to sign any remaining FA pitchers but I don’t think they want too. I’d guess this puts them out on Chen. But I can still see Gallardo or Kennedy (would be my choice). Or even a Fister or Latos type.
Yea prolly like an innings eater like Kennedy, or do they take a flyer on cliff lee?
Those are beyond their budget. Randall Simon would be affordable.
The Royals have publicly said they still plan to add a starting pitcher – and the Gordon signing states that they are in Win Now mode. So, these pitchers are Not beyond their budget on a 2-3 year deal if they think he is a good fit.
And last I knew Randall Simon was much better at hitting sausages than pitching.
I like mat latos or Doug fister. Struggling pitchers with a lot of potential who could benefit from an amazing defense and a friendly ballpark
No loss of a draft pick either on the 2 pitchers you named.
I didn’t see the deferment coming cause the royals have never done that. The only way they’ve deferred money is to offer a buy out year. Of course they’ve only signed a few big deals so no surprise there. I’m excited to see the final numbers
Very team friendly contract. Nice that he is taking less for year one so the KC still has $$ to make moves either before the season or at the deadline.
If I was the cubs, I would of signed Gordon over Heyward. Gordon might be older but I think he’s a better hitter
agreed. I would’ve done it for more financial reasons and their overall leadership in the clubhouse but we’ll see how it plays out for them. Contract could very well bite them in the ass
I disagree. Heyward is still entering his prime at age 26. Gordon is 32. Even tho heyward’s likely to opt out after 3 years, they aren’t paying that much more per year than Gordon gets.
Well done Alex Gordon, that was the best decision you could have made, KC and you went to WS 2 years in a row, so why mess up a good thing. It’s better to be a big fish in a small pond and prosper like a king.
Good for him! Bit surprised Royals went the distance, but he’s definitely a Royals ballplayer. Hopefully this will kickstart some other activity in the free agency and trade market.
Good for gordo maybe sox can get Cespedes now down to 4/80?
Never happening. Cespedes is younger and has no draft pick attached to signing him. Gordon is old and had a draft pick on him, which KC canceled out by getting him back.
At least their first rd pick is protected. If you’re in win-now mode you don’t mind losing the 50th pick or whatever it would be
Yo is not signing for four years.
It’s highly unlikely that 30 year old Yoenis Cespedes would sign a contract for less than 6 years coming off of a 6.3 WAR in his walk season. I can see him inking a deal of that length with a player opt-out 2-3 years into the contract however.
By the way, I predicted and hoped that Alex Gordon would return to the Royals and still feel that Cespedes winds up with the White Sox, most likely with that opt-out in place.
I also maintain that Chris Davis returns to the Orioles and he’ll be extremely lucky to get anywhere close to the $150M deal he rejected earlier this offseason. I just don’t see the market for him being competitive enough to warrant those dollars.
I’m still unsure about Justin Upton’s destination, but as the youngest at 28 I would expect him to sign a long term contract with an opt-out at 3 years in or so, perhaps something akin to the deal Jason Heyward signed with the Cubs for less total money. The Giants or Dodgers might be a fit, the latter of course needing to trade at least one outfielder (Yasiel Puig to the White Sox?) in order to make that happen.
I had a feeling that the White Sox would be all-in this offseason with soon to be 80 year old owner Jerry Reinsdorf nearing retirement and likely selling the team within 5 years or so. This would coincide favorably with all the team-friendly contract’s they have in place to core players such as Chris Sale, Jose Abreu, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton. I see a double window of opportunity on the southside of Chicago and look for their chairman to open his wallet in order to try and cement his legacy with another World Series championship before riding off into the sunset.
Good move by the Royals.
I would like to see a all-Star team of players the last 10 years that took a home town discount and see if any had Boris as there agent
There’s Jered Weaver. He signed a 5 year, $85 million extension with the Angels in August 2011 despite 435.1 innings of 3.37 ERA pitching from 2009-2010 ball to go along with leading the league in strikeouts in 2010 with 233. He also had a 2.10 ERA in 2011 at the time he signed the extension and he was one more season from free agency. Weaver even admitted to going against Boras’ advice to sign the extension. His 2012 season after signing the extension would have been good enough to land him a 6 year, $120 million+ contract on the open market but he chose to stay with the Angels for less money. I wish more players were like him.
It’s about time something significant happened! This slow developing offseason is killing me. Now if the White Sox would just go sign Upton or Cespedes, I’ll be happy.
With Gordon now off the table the Cardinals need to sign Chris Davis and then trade Matt Adams, Marco, and ? to the Rockies for Cargo.
I doubt the Cardinals would go after Davis
Hard to say if he had a good five-year offer from someone.
I wonder if this is the same offer that the Royals were told had “no chance” of convincing Gordon to re-sign. Either way, it looks like he took quite the discount to return to KC.
That rumored offer was more like $52 mil.
Taking the largest offer is not “giving a hometown discount”.
You know for sure that this was the largest offer? He didn’t receive any offers with a higher AAV or any 5 year deals either. I find that hard to believe.
IMO this is a great deal for both sides. Not a huge Royals fan but happy for them that they get to retain a good player.
Ok Hahn time to wake up and sign cespedes before some one else slides in there and steals him. Alex Gordon wasn’t my first or second choice with the FA left but the sox seemed to like him. Now he’s gone so break out the checkbook and get the deal done
Yes, you can have Cespedes punting the ball all over the outfield
Glad the White Sox did not overpay for Gordon. Now go get Cespedes or Upton and be done with it. Would rather have Cespedes as he does not cost you a pick.
the white sox need to make a counter move
This isn’t an over pay. I’m surprised Gordon didn’t get a fifth year. So don’t worry, the White Sox can still over pay for Cespedes or Upton
as a baseball fan, I’m glad to see this.
Whole heartedly agree. Some guys are hard to ever picture in a different uniform.
Good for Gordon and good for KC. But, as a Mets fan, that picture makes me sad 🙁
I feel like this will finally cause the other shoe to drop in the Cespedes market, but I can’t imagine him getting more than four years now.
Gordon is my favorite player, he’s my role model and I watch him for what I need to do in games, Kansas City is my favorite team and if Gordon would of signed somewhere else I would of cried, since 2012 I have loved baseball, Gordon is that kind of player that is the face of the franchise and the guy you build around, they got Hosmer, Moustakas, Perez and Cain when Gordon was the best player for KC, this is really good for the organization and fans, I can’t wait to see what they do with the pitching staff to improve it, a guy like Gallardo would be good as a 3rd starter, I’m predicting that Kansas City will come back to the World Series and maybe win 2 in a row, Can’t wait till the season starts and see what happens
Well get you hanky ready because your team will not be able to keep all your guys. Cain is but far the most valuable, so I would have let gordon walk. That would have set the stage for possibly keeping other more valuable pieces, not an aging lf with ok but not top end offensive stats. Noting that none of them are worth 20AAV, and that includes Alex Gordon. Its a amazing that WAR helps drives people’s feelings about contracts. And I fully understand the draw to a guy you had from day one, but Note I said feelings because if your feelings were removed you would see that a guy with those numbers is not in any way setting the bar for anyone. And unless your other option in left is named hanley then don’t worry too much about defense.
And don’t fret…I’m not hating on the royals…but If brett were playing today and a free agent next year, what would you have to pay him to stay according to current trends? 35mm?
Glad they got it done. Gordon belongs in KC for the duration of his career. I thought he might take a discount to stay a Royal, but they were going to have to meet him halfway, and it looks like they did that.
With 8+ years service time and KC in win now mode for the foreseeable future, a no trade clause would have been just semantics.
More evidence that teams just don’t want to pay much for players known mostly for their elite defense, especially those in their 30’s. Gordons a nice player but a 113 OPS+ over 3 years shows he is not an elite hitter, and he is in his declining years
I expect the working formula is dollars(million AAV) = 10 X offensive WAR + 4 x defensive WAR (incl pos adj). Heyward got more because his projected offensive WAR is expected to increase due to his young age
Maybe you’re right, but I don’t find your reasoning convincing.
Who is projecting Heywards WAR to improve to an elite or near elite level? At least for next year, steamer projects a .284/.362/.449 slashline. Compared to his .293/.359/.439 for 2015, this projects a pretty modest improvement.
To really validate your claim, you need Upton and Cespedes to sign, but interestingly, its taking longer than it normally does. There are a lot of very talented bats still left on the market.
offensive #s have declined in the past couple of years. hope that’s not a trend.
You must only be looking at his home runs. His AVG is the highest its been since 2012. While it’s not very high, it is very consistent. His 2015 OBP is a career best.
SO happy the White Sox didn’t sign him!
I’m also glad he stayed in KC. I predicted this all the way except I had him going to the White Sox. I also knew it be 4 years with a Mult Opt. There was no way anyone would give him 5 years as some one said here. Most including KC wanted 3 A simple compromise of 4 with a Mult opt was an easy answer. I also think Davis will sign with Balt for 157 Million over 7 years. Heard it here first. I think the Sox will try to go after Cespedes, and Umpton end up in SF – The Cards are not getting any of the remaining 3 and don’t know why Cards fans think that. There not spending any money get over it. Be lucky if you land Span lol.
I found this comment on another website:
“There will be an Exodus in 2018. After the 2017 season, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Danny Duffy, Mike Moustakas, Wade Davis, Jarrod Dyson, Jason Vargas, Omar Infante, Alcides Escobar, and Wade Davis will all enter free agency at the same time.”
That’s just flat out incredible.
Yikes. I don’t doubt some of those guys will get extended or traded before then, but still, that’s basically the entire team!
Yeah, 2018 will be rough. But less so if we keep winning for two more years.