Kansas City Royals: 2019-2020 offseason schedule
By Cody Rickman
November 4 – End of “quiet period” during which teams have exclusive negotiating rights with their free agents, deadline to issue qualifying offers ($17.8MM) to eligible free agents, and deadline to exercise or decline options and opt-outs (unless sooner by operation of contract)
The Royals have to make their decision regarding Alex Gordon’s contract by November 4th. Alex Gordon may take this decision out of the hands of the Royals front office and retire. The decision between the Royals and Alex Gordon may be somewhere in between where the Royals opt for the buyout clause in the contract and Gordon retires to be a special assistant to the Royals front office.
Dayton Moore has stated he’d love to have Gordon back in uniform for the 2020, but depending on the budget with the new ownership group Moore may not be able to exercise mutual contract agreement. Regardless of the outcome of this situation, I believe Alex Gordon will remain with the Royals as assistant to the front office (roaming minor league instructor/scout).
Jorge Soler has an option in his contract to opt out of his current contract and enter into arbitration which will be valued at $11.2 million for 2020. Soler will have another year in 2021 of arbitration before he is eligible for free agency in 2022. The Royals may move to extend Soler this offseason to lock up their breakout AL homerun champ for the next 4 years.
I subscribe to the notion that Jorge Soler needs to be part of the Royals future and rebuild as the consistent source of power in the lineup. I project an extension for Soler to be worth 4 years/$62 million (2020 – $12 million, 2021 – $14 million, 2022 – $18 million, 2023 – $18 million, mutual option for 2024 – $14 million).
November 11-14 – General Manager Meetings (Scottsdale, AZ)
A lot of preliminary trade discussions take place during the GM meetings and get finalized during the Winter Meetings in December. Expect Dayton Moore to be active in pursuing talent from teams that don’t currently have the roster room to retain these players.
The Royals need to spend this offseason addressing the outfield, pitching staff, and bullpen. I went through the league and addressed possible trade candidates for teams in the AL East, AL West, NL East, NL Central, and NL West.