In what has to be considered a surprising move around the baseball world, the Kansas City Royals have reportedly re-signed All-Star third baseman Mike Moustakas to a one-year deal with a mutual option for a second season.
This report comes to us via Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, who has details regarding the contract numbers.
Mike Moustakas has agreed to a one-year deal with a mutual second-year option with the Kansas City Royals, sources with knowledge of the deal tell Yahoo Sports. It guarantees him $6.5 million and can max out at $22.7 million.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 9, 2018
A total of $6.5 million guaranteed for one season is absolutely absurd. Moustakas, 29, put up a .272 average with 38 homers and 85 RBI last season.
Moustakas will receive a base salary of $5.5 million a potential of $2.2 million in performance bonuses. His option for the 2019 season is for $15 million with a $1 million buyout, per Passan.
This just goes to show us how horrible of a market free agents have found around the Major League Baseball world this winter.
It had been a foregone concussion that the cash-strapped Royals would lose Moustakas to free agency. But once the market played out, the possibility of him returning to a city he’s called home for the past seven seasons increased.
That’s now all but official.
