The Royals announced that they signed catcher Salvador Perez to a five-year contract that includes three club options. Perez will earn a guaranteed $7MM over the course of the five-year contract, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reports (Twitter links). The Morgan Advisory Group client could earn as much as $26.75MM if he maxes out his incentives and the Royals pick up all three options. Dutton has the yearly breakdown (Twitter links).
The deal buys out Perez's three pre-arbitration seasons and two of his seasons of arbitration eligibility. The Royals have options for his final season of arbitration eligibility and for his first two free agent seasons.
Perez debuted with the Royals last year, appearing in 39 games. The 21-year-old posted a .331/.361/.473 line in 158 plate appearances, adding 13 extra base hits. Before getting called up to Kansas City, Perez posted a .290/.331/.437 line in the upper minors and prevented 46% of stolen base attempts against him.
Perez joins Matt Moore and Evan Longoria, who also signed extensions before notching their first full year of MLB service time. The two Rays players also signed deals that include three club options. There's not much recent precedent for extensions involving pre-arbitration eligible catchers, as MLBTR's Extension Tracker shows.
GM Dayton Moore locked Joakim Soria up before the closer had two years of service time in a similarly motivated extension. The Royals obtained three club options on that deal as well.
