Third baseman Mike Moustakas is staying with the Kansas City Royals in a surprising turn dictated by a historically slow free-agent market.
Kansas City agreed Thursday to a one-year contract that guarantees the All-Star $6.5 million, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.
The deal could be worth up to $22.7 million over two seasons, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.
Moustakas gets a $5.5 million salary this year and has the chance to earn $2.2 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances. The agreement, reached exactly three weeks before Opening Day, includes a $15 million mutual option for 2019 with a $1 million buyout.
The 29-year-old turned down a $17.4 million, one-year qualifying offer from the Royals in November. But he found the interest of many other teams dimmed because a deal would have required compensation such as a loss of draft picks and/or international signing bonus allotment.
Moustakas earned $8.7 million in 2017, and he could match that salary through bonuses with 450 plate appearances this year. He could not be given a qualifying offer again after this season — one of the changes in the collective bargaining agreement reached in November 2016 is a provision preventing a player from being given more than one qualifying offer in his career.
Among the players who in 2015 led the Royals to their first World Series championship in 30 years, Moustakas will find a changed clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium. First baseman Eric Hosmer left as a free agent for a $144 million, seven-year contract with San Diego, and center fielder Lorenzo Cain departed for an $80 million, five-year deal with Milwaukee.
But a languid market that left dozens of free agents unsigned when spring training began last month allowed the Royals to reach an agreement with Moustakas and keep shortstop Alcides Escobar for a $2.5 million, one-year contract. Kansas City added first baseman Lucas Duda for $3.5 million and outfielder Jon Jay for $3 million.
