Kansas City Royals 2017 Payroll Still Extremely High
By Joel Wagler
ROYALS 2017 PAYROLL WILL STILL BE HIGH
The payroll for the Kansas City Royals will still be high in 2017, if less than 2016. Thanks to the fans that came out in droves in support of their home team last year, the team probably is better off than it could have been.
Still, Moore probably wasn’t able to trim as much from his payroll as he would have liked. He still has to pay Omar Infante eight million dollars, Kris Medlen one million, and Luke Hochevar half a million.
The Royals will also owe Yordano Ventura’s estate his salary of about $3.75 million, though that will probably be taken care of by insurance.
Here’s what the estimated payroll looks like for 2017:
- Infield – $37,970,000
- Outfield – $30,535,000
- Rotation – $32,035,000
- Bullpen – $22,900,000
- Other – $13,250,000
- TOTAL – $136,690,000
Ther could be some movement on this number, depending on who exactly makes the roster, but this is a fairly solid ballpark number. It will be about six or seven million dollars less than 2016.
Of course, if things go badly during the season, the Royals will probably become sellers and part of the salaries for Hosmer, Moustakas, Escobar, Cain, and Vargas could disappear with a trade.
It’s possible even players like Kennedy and Herrera could get traded if things go awry.
Hopefully, this group of Royals has one big final hurrah and can finish the season with another championship run. If they do, this payroll will look like a bargain.
Next season will be a different story because the Royals will not be able to retain most of the players whose contracts expire after 2017.
Next: The Best Royals in the Dark Years
Enjoy these Kansas City Royals has much as you can. This team will look much different next year and some of our favorites will be gone. The biggest question is: for how much of the season we can watch them?
Hopefully, it will be through October!
Thanks to Spotrac and Baseball-Reference for providing data on salaries and contracts.