The Royals announced a four-year extension to the catcher Salvador Pérez this afternoon. The contract also contains a club option for a fifth season, reports Athletic’s Alec Lewis, who has the full analysis of the terms (via Twitter) Pérez will make $ 18 million in 2022, $ 20 million each in 2023 and 2024 and $ 22 million in 2025. The 2026 club option is valued at $ 13.5 million and comes with a $ 2 million purchase, for a guarantee total of $ 82 million with the potential for a maximum of $ 93.5 million if the option is exercised. Lynn Worthy, of the Kansas City Star, was the first to report the deal’s average annual value of $ 20.5 million. (Twitter link) Pérez is a client of the Beverley Hills Sports Council.
Previously defined as a free agency at the end of the year, Pérez will now remain in Kansas City for the next half decade. The 30-year-old (May 31) is a face in the franchise, having spent his entire professional career in the Royals organization. A workhorse behind the sign and an instrumental piece from the winners of the Kansas City consecutive streamer and World Series 2015 team, Pérez now appears to have a chance to spend his entire career with the franchise. The extension runs through its 35-year season.
If he played his entire career in Kansas City, Pérez would follow him Alex Gordon like Royals throughout their careers. Gordon’s four-year, $ 72 million deal in January 2016 was previously Royals’ largest investment in the franchise’s history. Pérez’s extension surpasses this business as the largest in the franchise’s history.
The organization’s support has undoubtedly played a role in this expansion, but Pérez is not being rewarded for mere homesickness. He is coming out of the best offensive season of his career in terms of fees, having cut 0.333 / 0.353 / 0.633 with eleven home runs in 156 plate appearances last year. He will not sustain a hitting average of 0.345 on the balls in play or an isolated force of 0.300 (hitting minus the hitting average), but he doesn’t need to hit that level to stay productive. Despite assuming a heavy workload behind the plate, Pérez reached 0.251 / 0.285 / 0.456 between 2017-18. He has some notable weaknesses in the base as a result of minuscule walking fees, but Pérez offers a lot of pop and more has come out in position.
More to come.