Kansas City Royals: Evaluating the 2017 Payroll

The Kendrys Conundrum

The last player (this topic deserves an article all on its own) to discuss is Kendrys Morales. There is no way he will accept his part of the option at $11 million. He just became the first Royals player since 2000 to hit 30 home runs. The team would love to have him back at that price.

Despite a crowded free agent market for designated hitter types, 30 home runs have a lot of value. Here’s where it gets tricky, though. If Morales opts out, and he most certainly will, the team can offer him a qualifying offer of $16.2 million.

He just became the first Royals player since 2000 to hit 30 home runs.

The team almost has to make that offer. If they don’t and Morales moves on, the Royals get nothing.

If they do make that offer, and Morales passes, then they will get a compensatory draft pick. The danger for the Royals is that Morales may decide that is fair market value and accept.

While this isn’t the worst case scenario for a team that struggles to hit home runs, for a club trying to cut payroll, this adds dollars.

So, say if Medlen, Hochevar, and Volquez are all gone, and Morales is offered and accepts the qualifying offer, then a total of about $11 million has been cut from the $143.7 million mentioned thus far as committed payroll.

Now, the wildcard part of this equation.