KC Royals: Franchise Record Contract Offer on the Way

By Zach Blochlinger | Nov 17, 2015

The Kansas City Royals have a marquee free agent on the market in Alex Gordon. Will they bring him back with a franchise-record contract offer on the way?

The KC Royals have had a reputation of not offering large contracts to free agents, even when the free agents were on the team the previous year.

Owner David Glass is a very savvy businessman who knows how to make the most out of his money, and spending ridiculous amounts of money to bring players into the second smallest MLB market in the US is not the best way to do it.

Even with the record payroll from last season, the Royals were made up of players who had middle of the road contracts and players signed to extremely team-friendly extensions. This could all change this offseason with left fielder Alex Gordon and utility man Ben Zobrist on the free agent market, coming off of the team’s second ever World Series title.

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The largest contracts ever given out by the Royals to date are the five-year, $55 million deals given to Mike Sweeney and Gil Meche to match offers they received to keep them from leaving Kansas City.

At age 34, Zobrist is unlikely to get a huge, lucrative contract, as with his age he won’t likely be in baseball for more than three or four more seasons.

Without offering a contract that has 4+ seasons on it, the Royals won’t be too worried about taking the risk in signing a player, as the contract would be easier to move if they really needed to.

Gordon, on the other hand, is a different story. He isn’t yet at Zobrist’s age and also has much more value on the free agency market with teams like the Yankees, Cubs, and Red Sox, who have some of the largest markets in the MLB, and therefore, more money to hand out to free agents, after his services.

Gordon has already turned down a 1-year, $15.8 million deal, which means he will obviously getting a longer contract that pays a similar amount of money annually. With that in mind, he will probably be looking for a deal in the 4-6 year, $70-$90 million range.

With that in mind, he will probably be looking for a deal in the 4-6 year, $70-$90 million range.

With the Royals going to back-to-back World Series, the economics of the Royals and Kansas City will change, and there will be many more Royals fans around the country and especially in Missouri and Kansas.

David Glass will likely be more willing now to pay out more money with the loyalty his players and fans have shown to him throughout the years, which is good news to those who want to see both Zobrist and Gordon back in Kansas City next season.

I see Zobrist back in KC for sure, as he has even named his kid after the Royals (Blaise Royal Zobrist). I just don’t see him wanting to play for another team, since he has already been on numerous teams throughout his career.

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Gordon will be more difficult to bring back because of the amount of money that other teams will offer him. I can’t see the Royals wanting to offer him that much money with so many other, younger core guys still on the roster that will eventually need long-term deals.

We will just have to wait and see.

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