KC Royals: What should happen with Alex Gordon after 2019?

With new ownership moving into Kauffman Stadium around November the biggest question facing the 2020 KC Royals is what to do about perennial gold glove Left Fielder Alex Gordon?

Alex Gordon, who has spent his entire career with the Kansas City Royals, is a three-time All-Star (2013 – 2015), 6-time Gold Glove (2011 – 2014, 2017 – 2018), and the Platinum Glove recipient in 2014. This is the last year of that giant four-year contract he signed months after the Royals won the World Series.

Gordon has a $23 million mutual option for 2020 that comes with a $4 million buyout option. With new ownership set to take over in November, this first roster move will set the stage for what to expect from ownership in the first few years.

Gordon has put together a healthy 2019 season in line with his career numbers while providing gold glove caliber defense once again in Left Field.

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• Career: .258/.338/.413, 352 2B, 26 3B, 185 HR, 113/158 SBs
• 2019 MLB: .259/.334/.398, 30 2B, 1 3B, 12 HR, 42 BB (3 IBB), 87 K, 5/8 SB (490 ABs)

Gordon is a career Royal and has been the model for consistency in Left Field in the MLB after making the switch to full time Left Field in 2011. The Royals front office and new ownership group has to decide if removing Gordon’s 2020 contract from the ledger is the right decision.

Seeing limited replacements on the current roster (Jorge Bonifacio, Bubba Starling, and Brett Phillips) and in the minor league system (Khalil Lee, Nick Heath, Kyle Isbel, and Michael Gigliotti), retaining Gordon’s contract for another season wouldn’t hurt. Gordon, when healthy, still brings gold glove caliber defense each night in Left Field and his numbers at the plate are consistent for his career which makes what happened in 2016 and 2017 appear to be injury related down years.

Expectations: The Royals New Ownership group will make a statement to current and future Royals players and reward Gordon for his production under his current contract. If ownership goes down the buyout option on Gordon’s contract, this could set-up a bad example for future attempts to retain players in contract negotiations.

The Royals track record in bringing in low cost free agents also hasn’t been saturated with success. Gordon brings experience and leadership to the Royals outfield moving forward with rookies Starling and Philips.

Gordon has also been consistent with his career numbers at the plate and brings gold glove defense in Left Field each night. His base-running numbers shouldn’t slip too much as Gordon is crafty and intelligent about taking his chances advancing a base.