The Royals announced Monday that outfielder Randal Grichuk declined his half of a $5MM mutual option. He’ll be paid a $3MM buyout and return to free agency.
Grichuk, 34, was acquired from the Diamondbacks prior to the trade deadline in a deal that sent reliever Andrew Hoffmann back to Arizona. He’d been in the midst of a roughly average year at the plate and came to Kansas City with a strong track record of pummeling left-handed pitching. He didn’t produce in his new surroundings, however, as his .206/.267/.299 slash in 105 plate appearances with K.C. dropped his season-long batting line to a well below average .228/.273/.401.
As recently as 2024, Grichuk mashed at a .291/.348/.528 pace (139 wRC+) with a dozen homers in only 279 plate appearances for the D-backs. The majority of his production that year came versus left-handed pitching, which has been the righty-swinging Grichuk’s bread and butter throughout his big league career. He’s a lifetime .268/.318/.500 hitter when holding the platoon advantage, compared to a .241/.287/.446 hitter in right-on-right situations.
Earlier in his career, Grichuk was a capable center fielder, but his sprint speed has dropped more than a foot per second since its peak levels, per Statcast. He now ranks in the 41st percentile of big leaguers in terms of sprint speed. Grichuk has a strong arm, so he’s a capable corner outfielder even with the diminished speed, but he’s at best an occasional backup in center at this point. He played exactly one inning of center field with the D-backs and one with the Royals.
At 34 and coming off a down season, Grichuk isn’t going to find a robust market. However, he’s an established veteran with a lengthy track record who could hold down the short side of a corner outfield platoon while providing a serviceable backup across all three outfield spots, should his next team incur an injury among its starting group. He’ll probably be capped at a relatively affordable one-year deal once again, though some teams will surely prefer to wait and see if he’ll accept a non-roster invite to spring training later in the offseason.
Seems really stupid to have a buyout almost as much as the salary.
Not really. Since no one expects the mutual option to be exercised it is a way of splitting an $8 million salary between two seasons for luxury tax purposes or similar reasons. Works for everyone.
No – they were just moving that money to the following year for their tax ledger.
Then I find it hard to believe that anyone thought that this guy was worth $8M for one year.
$5M,fine.
He will get more than $2-3M this coming year.
Smart thing that his agent did.
That’s be design!
The Royals didn’t originally sign the deal. That being said, they did willingly trade for it. They were desperate to get any kind of offensive upgrade possible, especially one to play the outfield.
That was an expensive 105 at bats
Interesting observation. Dbacks had to kick in most of this buyout, right?
Why in the world would ANYONE accept a $5 million option when the buyout is $3 million?
Is he getting more than $2 million on the FA market as a 34 year old with the year he just had. I would have kept the $5 million.
I think he gets over $2 million without a doubt. If not, then he can sit at home and “earn” $3 million while not putting his body through the rigors of a baseball season.
Is anyone actually going to pay him $2M for next season? Seems more like a veteran minimum guy at best.
Feels like an upgrade over Jerar Encarnacion for the Giants. JE couldn’t stay healthy, again. Grichuk is the more reliable platoon option.
Odd move imo.
Platoon him in RF with JHL
Can’t see much over 2mil at this point but he may get up to another couple million based on plate appearances, games played etc