Salvador Perez will remain in Kansas City for at least another two seasons. The Royals announced an extension with the nine-time All-Star that covers the 2026-27 campaigns. It’s reportedly a $25MM guarantee for the Beverly Hills Sports Council client, though the deal includes some deferrals. The guarantee includes a $7MM signing bonus.
Kansas City had held a $13.5MM option for the upcoming season. General manager J.J. Picollo said at the end of September that the Royals would bring Perez back, though he left open the possibility of a new contract rather than simply exercising the option.
That’s indeed how things played out. Teams and players have until Thursday to decide on all option decisions. That presumably served as an unofficial deadline for the Royals and Perez to get a new deal in place. While the specific salary structure and deferrals have yet to be reported, it stands to reason they’ll negotiate a lower ’26 salary than the option value while giving Perez the security of the second guaranteed year.
Perez, 36 in May, is headed into his 15th full season in the big leagues. He’s obviously one of the most accomplished players in team history and seems likely to be a Royal for life. He’s seventh in franchise history in games played and trails only George Brett in both home runs and runs batted in. Perez isn’t going to make up the nearly 600 RBI he’d need to run down Brett, but he should become the franchise’s home run leader next season barring a significant injury. He has 303 longballs, placing him 14 behind the Hall of Famer’s career total.
A healthy Perez should still easily hit 15+ homers in 2026. He drilled 30 round-trippers this year and has eclipsed 20 homers in all but one full schedule dating back to 2014. The lone exception was the ’19 season which he missed due to Tommy John surgery. Perez trailed only Cal Raleigh, Shea Langeliers and Hunter Goodman in home runs among primary catchers this past season. Raleigh is the only other catcher who drove in at least 100 runs.
While Perez remains a legitimate power threat, the flaws in his game are equally well known. He has never been a patient hitter, and he’s coming off his third sub-.300 OBP in the past four seasons. Perez hit .236/.284/.446 across 641 trips to the plate. The overall slash line is a little worse than league average despite the gaudy homer and RBI tallies. It is still strong production from the catcher position, but Perez has begun to branch out to first base or designated hitter a little more often as he has gotten into his mid-30s.
The five-time Gold Glove winner still has a plus arm and did an excellent job shutting down the running game. Pitch framing metrics have panned his receiving work throughout his career. That remained the case in 2025. Statcast also graded him as the second-worst blocking catcher in the sport, better only than Marlins’ rookie Agustín Ramírez (who somehow committed 19 passed balls in 73 games).
There’s very little chance that Wins Above Replacement models are going to look favorably on this deal. Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference had Perez only marginally above replacement this year. The Royals have long valued the player a lot more highly than public advanced metrics would suggest. He has always been a revered clubhouse presence and fan favorite, and he won the Roberto Clemente award in 2024 for his contributions in the community (both in Kansas City and his native Venezuela). He served as the bridge between their 2015 World Series team and the ’24 club that returned to the playoffs after a nine-year drought.
They weren’t able to get to October this past season. A lack of offense and some late-season rotation injuries combined to drop them to an 82-80 record. Perez will be back as the primary catcher and should split first base/DH work with Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone. The Royals will want to work rookie Carter Jensen into the mix more frequently behind the dish. The 22-year-old was called up in September after K.C. traded longtime backup Freddy Fermin to the Padres at the deadline. Jensen hit .300 with three homers in his first 20 games, an impressive follow-up to a .290/.377/.501 season at Triple-A Omaha.
The Royals have around $140MM in estimated commitments for next season, according to RosterResource. Perez joins Bobby Witt Jr. ($19MM), Seth Lugo ($20MM), Michael Wacha ($14MM) and Cole Ragans ($7.5MM) as their players with contracts for 2027. They’re also locked in to at least a $2MM buyout on a club option for Carlos Estévez.
Anne Rogers of MLB.com first reported the $25MM guarantee, the $7MM bonus, and the presence of deferrals. Image courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images.
Royals legend
Easily the greatest Royals Catcher of all time.
Doesn’t take much
Love how not one complaint about contract deferrals, but if the Dodgers did it you would never hear the end of it.
Big difference between deferrals on 25 million on 1 player versus the deferrals the dodgers made on multiple players.
I’d assume its because its $25M and not $1B+ in deferrals. Just a guess
Cool.
Will be an interesting HOF debate once he retires
He’s definitely a HOF
His career WAR is right in the HOPG sweet spot. “Definitely a HOF” is a stretch.
He is 32nd in catcher JAWS, surrounded by non-HOFers and two dubious HOFers. And bWAR ignores framing, his worst defensive feature.
Jorge Posada had a pretty good career and well ahead on JAWS and he was one and done on HOF ballot. I doubt Salvy gets in via writers’ vote.
Catcher is the worst producing position compared to the other positions in all of sports. World series MVP, being a career Royal, and all of his gold gloves should help his case. He was a top 3 or 4 player in the Royals lineup his whole career too compared to Posada being just a guy on stacked rosters.
@Antibelt he isn’t as good as Kendall and he’s not a HOFer.
He’s WAY better than Kendall 303>75 HR and 9 Allstars vs 3.
I think Salvador Perez makes the HOF if he plays four more solid seasons and reaches 390 to 400 homers, but his low WAR might keep him out if he retires after 2027 with say 350 home runs.
If Perez and Posey get in, you gotta put Munson in the HoF. Have to.
@antibelt
I’m relieved that you aren’t part of the voting process.
He’s definitely a HOF.
I don’t think it’s too interesting if he makes the Hall of Fame I have no respect for the Hall of Fame. Hall of Awesome he played pretty good for one organization sure he can make that.
Why only an 0.4 WAR last season?
Low obp, bad “pitch framing”, and bad blocking skills. I don’t buy the 0.4 but he has big holes in his game. I just don’t agree with pitch framing weighting him down so when it cannot be an exact science to measure that. He’s probably a hall of famer eventually.
.284 obp. I don’t believe bWAR includes framing. fWAR does but gives him about the same value.
Batting average, .OPS and .OBP were pretty bad
Nice to see. Good for Salvy.
So this probably sets the floor for JT Realmuto?
Salvy has the better bat and there’s some sentimentality behind his signing. I’m guessing the under for JTR.
How so? JTR has better oWAR in 4 of the past 5 seasons and JTR is certainly the better defender. Not to mention a year yougner. I’m guessing that JTR beats this figure.
Good. Playing two more years on his way to the Hall of Fame.
Agreed. The Hall isn’t watered down enough yet.
JT Realmuto must be applauding right now.
Anywhere else would be weird.
I think the relationship guys like Perez have with home fans is much more meaningful than in other sports.
Love seeing him stay in KC. One day they’ll retire his number.
It’s very good for the sport that a team like the Royals has a franchise player that will likely play his whole career in one uniform and has been and continues to be paid relatively top dollar for what he brings to the game.
Darn….he and Kirk would have an interesting platoon in Toronto….
Good move