KC Royals: Jarrod Dyson Signs To Avoid Arbitration

The Kansas City Royals agreed on a 1-year $1.255 million contract with OF Jarrod Dyson, avoiding arbitration with one of the league’s most disruptive bench weapons.

CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman reported the deal on Twitter Tuesday morning:

Jarrod Dyson settled with royals at $1.225M plus 25K for 350 plate appearances
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 27, 2015

The Royals have slated the 30-year-old Dyson to continue as the team’s 4th outfielder and late-inning defensive replacement in 2015, after signing Alex Rios to replace free-agent Nori Aoki in right field.

Along with giving manager Ned Yost the luxury of deploying the ultimate outfield to protect late leads, Jarrod Dyson is a dynamic stolen base threat as a pinch runner. Dyson has stolen more than 30 bases the last three seasons despite never getting more than 330 plate appearances in any of those years.

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That’s what speed do.

Even though Dyson is a bench player with only a mediocre bat that lacks power, he’s an impact player for the Kansas City Royals. Dyson brings both elite speed on the basepaths as well as elite defense in center, frequently displacing the spectacular Lorenzo Cain to right to protect late-inning leads.

Dyson is a big part of the reason why the Royals significantly outperformed their Pythagorean win total, notching eight wins above .500 despite a run differential of 37 (you expect 1 win over .500 per 10 runs in differential).

Jarrod Dyson showed his true worth in Kansas City’s iconic comeback over the Oakland A’s in the 2014 A.L. Wild Card game. Dyson entered the game as a pinch runner after a leadoff walk to Josh Willingham with the Royals training 7-6 in the bottom of the 9th. After moving to 2nd base on a bunt by Alcides Escobar, Dyson stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly from Nori Aoki to take the game to extra innings.

"Dyson also helped key a critical September 15 victory over the White Sox along with fellow speedster Terrance Gore. In the game recap, I wrote:With the Royals down to their final out, Dyson—who entered the game as a pinch runner—stole 3rd and scored on a wild pitch by Chicago reliever Jake Petricka to tie the game. After Nori Aoki hit a double, Ned Yost used yet another pinch runner in Terrance Gore. Gore turned on the jets to score from 2nd on Lorenzo Cain’s infield single to win the game.Wins don’t get any bigger than this one.With the Royals fading in the A.L. Central, Kansas City literally stole away a game that looked to be lost. The win allowed the Royals to keep pace with the Tigers, who rallied in the 9th to defeat the Twins 8-6 in Detroit. Kansas City remains 1.5 games behind Detroit in the A.L. Central."

While the Kansas City Royals did not catch the Tigers in the Central, the win helped the Royals secure the top Wild Card spot over the A’s, which meant that fateful Wild Card game took place at Kauffman Stadium instead of in Oakland.

The Royals playoff run might never have happened without the home field edge.

That’s what Jarrod Dyson do.

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