The Kansas City Royals get to hang on to an important piece of their World Series run and a player who has been with the team since his career began almost nine years ago, re-signing Alex Gordon.
The almost 32 year old, an All-Star for the last three years and gold glove winner on four occasions (2011-2014) signed a four year deal worth $72 million, which is the biggest contract in franchise history, while also including a mutual option for 2020. This is almost doubling his previous salary, which was part of a four-year, $37.5 million contract he signed before the beginning of the 2012 season. He declined his 2016 player option, worth $13.75 million with postseason escalators, to see how the market values him.
With Gordon now signed, this means the Royals won’t be going after Gerardo Parra, and overall takes off an excellent outfielder, something a lot of teams are interesting in, off the board. Whether or not this makes teams become more aggressive in pursuing Parra, Yoenis Cespedes and Justin Upton to begin with remains to be seen, but it did seem like the market was waiting for someone to make a move regarding one of the top-tier free agents in order to start some new rush of signings.
Gordon has been with the Royals since 2007, starting his career at third base and later moving on to the outfield, mostly playing at left field. After struggling through the 2010 season to contribute offensively, he’s hitting a .281 over the last five seasons with a .809 OPS, including 89 home runs. He played just 104 games last season, good enough for 13 home runs and ended up batting .271 with a .809 OPS, both his best since 2012.