Kansas City Royals: What will offseason look like for Royals free agents?

ALCIDES ESCOBAR

The lone Royals free agent listed in Heyman’s article is Alcides Escobar, who wasn’t quite good enough for the team to trade during the 2018 season. Escobar is what he is at this point and that’s a good defensive shortstop.

For most teams, Escobar is going to be predominantly a bench player. That’s what the Royals had him as near the end of the season (though it did take a while to get to that point). Escobar just doesn’t have it offensively anymore to be an every day player.

Escobar finished his 2018 campaign slashing .231/.279/.313 with four home runs and 34 RBI in 485 at bats. He’s not going to wow anyone with his abilities at the plate (at least not anymore), but Escobar is a nice bench player and will get a deal that reflects that.

Heyman predicts Escobar will land a one-year deal worth $1.5 million while the expert has it for one-year and $2 million. Neither contract would surprise me, but hopefully it’s not the Royals shelling out that contract to Escobar, as Adalberto Mondesi is the future at shortstop and he needs to be given that role moving forward.