KC Royals: 2018 Free Agent Extension Candidates
By Scott Dillon
Lorenzo Cain
The Royals should consider an extension here if only to preserve the bromance that is Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez. If there isn’t a name for them yet I’ll propose LoVador (love-uh-door). All kidding aside, Cain has turned into a great player.
The Royals best shot to keep him is to work out an extension. They’ll need a viable option in center field in order to do that.
Cain had a tremendous 2015 which saw him post career bests in nearly every category. He Finished third in the MVP vote and made jaws drop rounding third in game six of the ALCS. As if he hadn’t done enough, he decided to drive the final nail in the proverbial coffin with a bases clearing double in game five of the World Series.
According to FanGraphs.com, Cain is 15th in the MLB in WAR over the past three seasons and fifth over the past two seasons. Cain is a valuable player and one that you can build a winner around. His role model is Torii Hunter and if he can produce for as long as Hunter did, he should have plenty left in the tank even entering his age 31 season.
Like Davis, Cain figures to be a hot commodity on the open market. The Royals best shot to keep him is to work out an extension. They’ll need a viable option in center field in order to do that.
If Cain is going to stick around for a while, he’ll most likely need to shift to right field at some point. The question is, will the Royals find his replacement before 2018?
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