While the Kansas City Royals would love to re-sign Alex Gordon, it seems that ship has sailed, and it’ll be someone else that gets to have the left fielder. Who? One of the following four teams: St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles or the Los Angeles Angels.
Gordon is simply too expensive for the Royals to hold on to. The 32-year old (in February) made $12.5 million last season, but he’s looking for a long term deal and making a lot more money in what should be his final high paying contract in the majors, and it’s something the Royals simply can’t afford. Gordon has done tremendously well for them over the years, spending his entire career (since 2007) with them, including the World Series last season, three All-Star appearances and four Gold Glove awards, but that is probably over now.
Gordon did have some injury problems last season, missing 58 games. But his hitting has remained fairly consistent (did dip a bit in the postseason), hitting .271 with an .809 OPS and the best OBP of his career (.377), hitting 13 home runs. One of the best left fielders in the league, he’s one of those sure things on defense and although he doesn’t blast away home runs like it’s nothing, he provides a nice combination of hits & power.
The Giants have a lot of money committed to starting pitchers this offseason, but usually when this team falls, it’s because of a weak lineup and defense. The Cardinals have done some things to make themselves forget about the Heyward defection, but Gordon could make things even better, considering they can plug him in other positions as well. The Orioles are on the search for power instead of Chris Davis and while Gordon isn’t a perfect fit there, like he isn’t for the Angels at least in terms of specific needs, he’s been so good and versatile pretty much everyone feels they can find some way to make this deal work. Now the only problem is finding his magic number.