KC Royals: Kendrys Morales was Dayton Moore’s best free agent signing

Kendrys Morales announced his retirement from the game of baseball. Morales played two seasons for the KC Royals and was a key player on the 2015 World Series Championship team. He was Dayton Moore’s best free agent signing.

Kendrys Morales signed with the Kansas City Royals in December of 2014 with his contract being a two-year deal worth $17 million that included performance incentives. The signing came just weeks after Billy Butler was able to land $30 million over three years.

While Butler was indeed a fan favorite at the time, the Royals made the right decision to not re-sign Billy after his production numbers declined significantly since his All-Star 2012 season.

It’s not to say that there wasn’t risk taken by the Royals with Morales, but it wasn’t nearly the risk they would have taken had they signed Butler that offseason. Morales was coming off of a season where he had also struggled with the Twins before he was eventually traded to the Mariners in 2014.

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That season saw him hit a total of eight home runs and drive in only 42 runs with a .218 BA. It was by far the least productive season of his career, but making a comeback was something Kendrys Morales was familiar with.

He had to make a comeback from one of the most bizarre injuries in baseball history after shattering his ankle while jumping onto home plate to celebrate a walk-off grand slam in 2010 while he was with the Angels. He missed the rest of the 2010 and the entire 2011 season. He returned to hit 22 and 23 homers over the next two seasons (2012-2013) with the Angels and Mariners.

When the Royals signed Morales they were in desperate need of someone to put into the lineup that possessed power. He provided that in 2015.

Dayton Moore took a gamble and his new DH simply responded with  a slash of .290/.362/.485 and 22 bombs with 106 RBI to help jolt the Royals back into the postseason. In his two seasons, Kendrys Morales provided the Royals with consistent power at the DH position, which was something that the franchise had lacked since the days of Mike Sweeney.

During the 2015 Divsional Series against the Astros, Morales clubbed three home runs to include a 2 on 2 out 3 run homer in the 8th inning off of Dallas Keuchel in the deciding Game 5. The homer would slam the door on a series where the Royals had trailed two games to one. He finished the 2015 postseason with four homers and ten RBI.

When comparing the size of his contract versus other DHs in the AL over the two seasons in Kansas City, Morales provided the team with production at a bargain price. Without a doubt they benefited from the best consecutive seasons he had during his career.

In his most recent interview with ESPN’s Marly Rivera, Morales was quoted as saying that Major League Baseball has changed and maybe “veteran ballplayers such as myself are not valued”.

Kendrys Morales – You might feel that way today, but the Kansas City Royals organization and the the fans valued your playing time in Kansas City.