The Royals have officially agreed to a new contract with catcher Salvador Perez. The deal covers six years for the Beverly Hills Sports Council client, including the coming season, and does not include any options. It guarantees three preexisting club options and adds two new seasons at the back end, with a total guarantee of $52.5MM.
All told, then, Perez will be promised the payouts contemplated in his original extension in addition to receiving $36MM in new money. Part of that comes in the form of a $6MM signing bonus, so there’s some added cash coming to Perez up front. His new 2017 salary will be $3MM, and he’ll earn $7.5MM and then $10MM in the two seasons to follow before taking home $13MM annually in the two new years covered by the deal.
A contract restructuring has long been said to be in the works between the sides. Perez was playing under an early-career deal that allowed the club to control him through 2019, via club options, for the relatively meager sum of $16.5MM. The original contract, negotiated by his prior agents, promised him just $7MM over five years, though of course it was reached before he had even logged a full season in the majors.
While many players have worked out second extensions after originally signing team-friendly pacts, Perez’s situation was rather unique. His first deal turned out to be unusually tilted in the club’s favor, leaving him with little leverage and no contractual protection for the years to come. Though Perez won’t receive the kind of lengthy, high-dollar commitment that some others have achieved — most of them, superstar-level performers — the new deal represents a notable achievement under the circumstances.
With the agreement, Kansas City will be committed to Perez through his age-31 season. That’s still relatively youthful, of course, but the big-framed backstop has already logged 545 games behind the dish through his first five campaigns. That’s only increased over time, as he’s averaged 143 games over the past three seasons.
Of course, that workload also goes to show Perez’s durability. He’s battled through plenty of dings and dents along the way, providing ample proof of his willingness to push his body for the club. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be given some more opportunities for rest over the coming seasons, but certainly the club has a vested interest in ensuring his longevity.
Since taking over as the full-time receiver in 2013, Perez has compiled a .270/.297/.420 slash line with 17 home runs annually. He’s declined over the past two years to a below-average overall contributor at the plate, but has certainly shown the ability to put up at least league-average production offensively. Of course, Perez shines most notably with the mask on, as he has consistently rated as a quality defender in terms of blocking and throwing. He isn’t well loved by framing metrics, though obviously that doesn’t account for his game management abilities and broader contributions on and off the field.
All told, there’s plenty of risk in the deal for the defending champion Royals, particularly given that the organization already enjoyed risk-free contract control for three more seasons. But it’s hard not to appreciate the commitment to a player who has had a major role in the team’s recent rise to prominence.
The move represents the latest investment in what’s proven to be a busy offseason for K.C. The club had already struck a significant pact to keep star left fielder Alex Gordon, signed a big contract with free agent righty Ian Kennedy, inked reliever Joakim Soria, brought back another arm in Chris Young, and added yet another rehabbing starter in Mike Minor. It also worked out arbitration-only extensions with Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas, though it remains to be seen whether lengthier pacts can be struck with either of those players or fellow young stalwarts Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar.
Jon Heyman of MLB Network first reported that a deal was close and added details on the contract structure (links to Twitter). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports said the deal was done and reported information on its value and allocation (links to Twitter). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (in a tweet) and Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (also on Twitter) added details on the breakdown.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
So basically the Royals are picking up the 3 options they were already guaranteed to pick up and adding a 2 year extension.
yes, plus giving him $6M now. It’s the right thing to do for a guy who is so important to your team. And contra the Pirates, who pissed off Gerritt Cole over $100K.
That’s a lot of leverage and extra money to give up, purely to keep a guy from being disgruntled about a guaranteed contract he already signed.
Strange, strange business. What;’s the point in locking a guy up on the cheap if you’re going to feel compelled to reconsider it anyway?
It’s the old saying – Salvador won’t be giving any money back if he regresses.
Why?! His offensive numbers have declined every year and he’s the most heavily worked catcher in the league. Who knows what his body will be able to withstand over the next 6 years. I get “good will” and but this is so risky and pointless for KC..
Because they have people that are paid figure how much he’s worth paying. Catching is a premium position
“Why?! he’s the most heavily worked catcher in the league.”
You just answered your own question.
Can you elaborate on what you mean? Do you mean because he’s so valuable to them? I look at it as they already had him for 4 years, extending him now when so much can happen to a catcher in that time seems like an unnecessary risk
The odds speculation is that KC has shortened his longterm catching value by riding him so hard behind the plate. While it’s fairly virtuous to have a position player that can go 162 games….its pushing the limit to play a catcher neatly full time.
They’ll have to slide him into DH more.
His offensive numbers have declined every season? His full 3 seasons as a C……his power has gone up. 13, 17, and 21 HR’s. The only thing that has declined is his BA…..which is largely due to the fact that his BABIP in 2013 was way higher than it was in both 2014/2015. Get out of here. You know nothing about baseball.
His wRC+ has decreased the past 4 years. His OPS+ has decreased. He’s struck out more every year and his plate discipline has declined.
A lot of Salvador Perez’s numbers have decreased steadily over the course of his career, and he’s still very young.
How about before you insult someone, you do a little checking first?
You act like Kansas City fans pay attention to sabermetrics lol.
Yea, we’re too busy watching post-season baseball…
That’s actually funny, because an odd amount of sabre heavys have been Royals fans….Bill James included. It’s actually very weird. They’ve ridden Dayton Moore through the entire rebuild.
You’re too busy watching post-season baseball in March?
The heart and soul of the clubhouse. Worth every penny!
Are you serious? Aav of 8.75 over the next 6 years. Total output 52.5 mil. Extending the royals window 2 years. Do you have any idea what prime time catchers make? 23 mil for mauer at age 31, 15 mil for yadier, 17 mil for mccann, 8.5 mil (escalating later) for Russ Martin 8 mil for Jorge posada (in 2003), 21.4 mil for buster posey.
Great perspective. Still a smoking good value. Great guy. Great teammate. Great player. This is a smart move by KC to keep the core together.
Here’s the thing: they already had him for 4/16 which is dirt cheap. 52 over 6 years is great but why unnecessarily add the extra years and money to what was such a great deal when so much can happen to a catcher in particular over the next 4 years. If he gets a concussion 2 years from now or his OBP keeps declining, now you’ve given away 36 mil.
His power continues to develop. If he can maintain that while reversing the trend of his plate discipline, then this is still a steal.
Kudos to these guys getting this done when, for all intents, they didn’t have to. Yes, there’s risk involved, but they’re still getting a substantial break on the value of the player in question.
Moreso, this is going to help the next time they ask a home-grown guy to take a discount to stay in KC. They got Gordon on a pretty big discount, and who knows, maybe the good will from this helps them retain Hosmer or Cain in the near future.
This is the kind of move they HAD to make with this guy. His contract was beyond ridiculous as it was signed, and yes, 25-ish other major league teams probably would have forced this guy to play it out. The Royals appear to be trying to do business in a different way.
It seems to be easy to forget, but these guys are all still human beings. The Royals front office has a couple main choices: 1. run the risk of Perez becoming bitter, knowing he didn’t bet highly enough on himself early in his career and took a deal to end up getting paid far less than his peers. 2, say to him, “We have all this money sitting around from our wild success of the past two years, in part due to your hard work and talent, so let’s meet somewhere in the middle, commit to working together for a couple more years, and give you a raise.” He is still a bargain, as others above have said.
All the money sitting around has already been spent. The Royals have openly admitted they expect to lose money this year, but they’d rather have their talent locked up and happy than have bitter players that are underpaid.
And I know the glass family has a net worth in the billions. He’ll be fronting some of his own money to pay players this year and probably 2017 instead of depending on revenue that the team itself generates.
Jed Gyorko didn’t consider giving money back to the Padres because he thought the owners and GM would be bitter giving him all that money. While I’d guess he was disappointed with his performance he probably didn’t care that he was getting paid a lot more than his performance dictated. That was the risk management took when they signed him.
From listening to all the reporters on the Baseball Tonight podcast, management is expected to honor the contract if a player plays poorly but also expected to renegotiate if the player outplays the contract. The Royals can do what they want, but I don’t like the expectation that the Royals should give Perez more money because he was better than the deal he signed.
From a front office perspective, that wasn’t the expectation. Outsiders looking in put that expectation into play. The only expectation the front office placed on themselves was to take care of a player that is one of the best in the game. They renegotiated a player that outplayed his contract. Simple as that.
Jedd Gyorko beat the Padres out of $2M last year. If anybody should take issue, it’s the Cards, who are on the hook for most of the deal. And they just traded for it this off-season, so they can’t think he’s terribly overpaid. Maybe a bad example…and yeah, the player never gives back money (except for maybe Gil Meche/Michael Cuddyer).
Still, we were talking about Sal Perez playing out, basically, his entire prime for under $22M (options included).
The guy’s given them almost 12 WAR already. Do I need to show you the math for what that’s worth? At fangraphs 2014 “median” value of $5.9M per “win” this guy’s given them $70M+ in production.
I assume that that wasn’t supposed to be Alex Rios? I have to imagine he’s past arbitration-eligibility by now
Yeah had him on the brain for some reason. It’s fixed.
Salvy isn’t all offense. He has a great personality, he’s most likely the Royals Captain. He is the best catcher in baseball by far, his offense isn’t as good as his Gold Glove Defense. The Royals didn’t feel right about paying him 3 million per year so they wanted to rework an extension, you gotta look at it from Perez side. He has been working his tail off to help them win and he only gets paid 2.5 to 3 million while a guy like Alex Gordon is doin his part just like Perez, But Gordon was getting paid 9.5 million, This deal is good for both sides and I think the royals will be good for several years to come. Also Perez is the key to help the royals keep Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas. Escobar said he wants to stay with Perez, Hosmer openly said that he wanted to stay with the royals, Cain and Perez are The best of friends, Salvy is the core young piece everyone in baseball needs and wants. The Guy is only 25 with 3 all star appearances and 3 gold gloves, he’s good, he was also the WS MVP. If you cant find anything besides the small contract and his offensive numbers that wasn’t amazing, then you can’t prove to me that this contract wasn’t good, until someone gives me a good example then it’s not bad
I like him too, but Molina is the best catcher in baseball, period
Not anymore, Molina is always injured and he’s 34 or 35
Then what about Buster Posey or Russell Martin. Both of those provide a LOT more value on offense than Perez and are still very valuable defensively. I’d take them over Perez any day.
Martin:
2016 – 15,000,000
2017: – 20,000,000
2018 – 20,000,000
2019 – 20,000,000
Posey:
2016 – 20,000,000
2017 – 21,400,000
2018 – 21,400,000
2019 – 21,400,000
2020 – 21,400,000
2021 – 21,400,000
Perez:
2016 – 2,000,000
2017 – 3,000,000
2018 – 7,500,000
2019 – 10,000,000
2020 – 13,000,000
2021 – 13,000,000
Martin and Posey will make significantly more in the next 3 years than Perez will make in the next 5. Royals can’t afford to pay someone 20+ a year. This new deal with perez is still a very team friendly deal.
Buster Posey would strongly contend that argument, I think a healthy Lucroy is the only person even in the same vicinity of Posey.
*contest
Posey is the best catcher in baseball, and it’s not even close. Molina is past his prime.
Why is this contract not a good one? Well for starters, Perez has declined offensively in each of the past 3 years and it’s not unnoticeable. Here are his wRC+ and BB% from 2013-2015
2013 – 106 wRC+; 4.0 BB%
2014 – 92 wRC+; 3.6 BB%
2015 – 87 wRC+; 2.4 BB%
As you can see, Perez’s offensive decline can in part be attributed to his decline in plate discipline. He has also been making less and less contact since 2013, with the percentage of pitches he makes contact with going from 87.4% in 2013, to 83.2%. That’s not a bad rate by any means, but the decline is a bit concerning given that he’s shown an inability to get on base by any means other than making contact.
Defensively, there aren’t major advanced stats for catchers, but his DRS has declined from 2013-2015 has declined, from 11 to 8 and then to 5 DRS just last year. Plus, he has been used a lot as far as catchers go. Sure he’s still an excellent defender now, but if the Royals continue to use him so heavily, do you really think that his ability will last into 2019, let alone 2021?
Lastly, the Royals had no obligation to promise Perez more money. The club options allowed them to control him until the 2019 season for very cheap amount. Now they’ve not only promised him more money over the life of the initial contract, but they’ve tacked on 2 more years for a well-worn catcher that has declined offensively. If 2015 is his floor, and he produces at that level for every year of the contract, then it’s a decent contract. But you can’t make an argument that 2015 is his floor, so you can’t argue that this is a good contract.
He is 25 the Royals no better than any one his offensive decline has been a result of overwork behind the plate, he easily can rebound with more games at DH. The guy was catching the games in Japan right after the world series he needs to learn to take a break.
*know
His DRS has taken such a huge fall-off because teams aren’t testing him any more. They were surprised in 2013, fooled in 2014, and smart in 2015. That knowledge alone is worth more than the stat can provide. Teams shortened their leads off of 1st and 3rd base in 2015 when he was behind the plate because of his quick hands and strong arm, which lead to fewer opportunities for him to pick someone off.
His offensive numbers, have really only declined from a BA perspective. His power has developed, which has led to an increase in HR over the last 3 years. His BB% has gone down, but so has his SO%.
Perez’s K% has actually gone up each year since 2013. It was 12% in 2013, 14% in 2014, and 14.8% in 2015.
SO/PA is going down.
2013: 8.35
2014: 7.12
2015: 6.74
He’s striking out less per plate appearance. Sure, his SO/AB number is going up, but per plate appearance he’s becoming more productive.
RBI/PA
2013 6.65
2014: 8.66
2015: 7.9
HR/PA
2013: 40.46
2014: 35.65
2015: 26.33
He’s created less runs every year, his wOBA (and OPS if you demand old school stats) have also decreased. His plate discipline has also gotten worse each year.
It’s not a terrible deal for the Royals. But pretending his stats aren’t getting worse isn’t true.
I’m convinced you don’t know what you’re talking about. Check your numbers. What you are saying is that Perez is striking out 8 times for every PA. I think you mean PA/SO, in which case, you only proved my point. I don’t think you realize that a lower PA/SO means he is striking out more,. If his PA/SO = 6.74, that means he is striking out once for every 6.74 plate appearances, which is more than striking out once for every 8.35 PA.
Also, number of RBI has very little weight in determining offensive value. RBI is determined by the hitters in front of Perez. The hitters who often hit in the three spots in front of Perez, were Moustakas, Morales, Cain, and Hosmer. It’s worth noting that all 4 of them had OBPs of at least .345, and all of them but Moustakas had OBPs over .360.
Also, you mention that he is hitting more homeruns, but if he stops taking walks and starts making less contact, then much of the value his extra homeruns provide is negated.
Come back when you can show me something other than homeruns that proves Perez is a positive with the bat. Notice I said, BAT. ASG appearances, Gold Gloves and a single week of excellent hitting in the postseason don’t count.
Yeah, no chance is he the best catcher in baseball. Top 10 sure, you could make the case for Top 5, but Posey, Lucroy, and Martin are clearly better
Ian Kennedy is right handed.
Blaming my vacation last week. My timing is off, just need to see some more live tweeting to get back in the groove.
This is a mistake. They had him under team control for very cheap until 2019. With his poor (to put it mildly) plate discipline, he has to remain a well above average catcher to provide positive value. If at the end of the 2019 season, Perez is still an excellent defender that hasn’t broken down due to injuries by the end of 2019, I’ll eat my hat.
It is not a mistake, it’s really good for both sides
It’s still ridiculously team friendly when you look at the rest of the elite level catchers in the game.
20 Hrs from Catcher position
So what? He also compiled a .260 batting average, .280 OBP (2.4 BB%), and a 87 wRC+ in 2015. He’s also a poor baserunner. Players have to do more than hit just hit homeruns to have a positive offensive value. All Perez can do well offensively is hit homeruns. He’s a below average offensive producer. End of discussion.
3 All star appearances, 3 gold gloves, WS MVP. He’s not anywhere close to Molina, Posey, Martin, Mauer money. Not too sure what the big argument against this contract rework and extension is all about.
3 All Star Appearances? Didn’t Omar Infante almost get voted in last year? ASG appearances don’t really mean anything in terms of player value.
Salvador Perez is a very good catcher. But his numbers are getting worse. And when an almost-26-year-old catcher is seeing steady decline year by year, people are likely going to question the extension, and rightly so.
It’s like talking to my ex wife….
Agreed. I could see them guaranteeing the options up front and tacking on a mutual option or something for 2020 as a gesture of good faith, but this seems like the Royals are negating their best value on the team. I understand wanting to reward his performance the last few years, and it’s not my money, but the team was best suited just playing it out I think
All-Star appearances aren’t worth much TBH. Omar Infante almost got nominated last year after all. Plus, a player can have a really good first half and be an All-Star, but then be terrible in the second half. For instance, since 2013, Perez is a 276/.306/.430 hitter in the first half, but a .261/.284/.407 hitter in the second half.
Also, I said that all Perez can do well OFFENSIVELY is hit HR. I said that Perez is a below average OFFENSIVE producer. Last time I checked, Gold Gloves aren’t given out to the best OFFENSIVe players..
Also, being WS MVP requires just one good week of hitting (or pitching in some cases). Just because he was an excellent hitter for one week doesn’t make him an excellent hitter over all.
Bryan Lahair made an asg. That is usually my go to.
Ian Kennedy is right handed, Lorenzo Cain (not Alex Rios) was extended through the rest of his arb years.
I’m a huge fan of the contract rework. The Royals are bogged down with talent in the field right now, but without Perez nothing ever would have come from it. He’s the sticky stuff that holds the team together.
As for the donation to the urban development, that’s also pretty significant. Perez was already very active with the proposed Youth Academy, and the donation will go a long way to making sure that place remains top notch for quite awhile.
Although the new money is a relief for both Royals fans and Perez, this is still going to be a very team friendly contract in the long run.
Anyone else notice that they are structuring these new contracts to pay big AFTER the 2019 season? The new TV deal is going to do wonders in 2020, and we can expect the Royals to at least remain competitive for quite awhile. I wouldn’t imagine them getting a deal like the Cardinals received, but 600-700 million isn’t out of the question, especially if they can get another championship under their belts the next two years.
Yikes, must be rusty after my week off. Fixed.
Honestly I think he should’ve got a lot more money than the Royals gave him. He’s one of the best catchers in the game
People are looking at this the wrong way, like the team is giving him a handout for his being a good guy or something.
They are buying control of the age 30 and 31 seasons of a premier, top-5 at his position player for $30m without have to buy up seasons in his late or even mid 30s. That is tantamount to the Pirates giving Andrew McCutchen a two year, $40m deal for his age 32 and 33 seasons, or to if the Royals had given Alex Gordon a two year, $35m extension four years ago. It’s a deal that buys out premium seasons without having to kill yourself in the future. If Perez had become a free agent at age 30 and was even 75% as good as he is now, he would have gotten a $100m contract. Buying two more of his prime years without having to give him nine figures is a great move.
And they’re comparing his new earnings with Posey and Martin level talent. Show me which year he’s going to make 20 mill, and I’ll bow down from this argument. The only year he’s scheduled to make more than EITHER of those players is 2020 and 2021 because Martin isn’t under contract for those years yet. He won’t even crack an aging Molina level salary.
This isn’t hard to figure out – it’s still a bargain by itself. But the tangential value could be interesting. The Royals will try to sign other young players to team-friendly, multi-year deals in the future (especially international players). The last thing they need is to get a reputation for using this tactic as a way of taking advantage of a player.
This deal shows other players in the future that the Royals work with you if you out-perform your contract. If they took this deal to the bitter end, I’m guessing other agents/players would be less likely to sign beyond free agency years to team-friendly – albeit team-risk deals – deals
Sal Perez isn’t that good. His defense is well below average due to his terrible pitch framing, which his average blocking and above average but not elite throwing can’t even come close to overcoming. Combined with the fact that he’s no longer a good offensive player and will likely continue to decline, as he has steadily done so every year of his career, this is just a dumb contract. Having slightly above average power and a good arm doesn’t make you an elite catcher. Sorry. His Baseball Prospectus page is pretty unflattering: -44.9 fielding runs below average the last 5 years, and only 4.5 WARP. To compare him to guys like Russell Martin or Yadier Molina is laughable.
Ha, you must be one of those that comments on a player’s abilities by looking at a spreadsheet and never seeing the guy play? He’s excellent at framing pitches. It’s been a big part of his game for quite a while now. And the things the stats sheets don’t show are the non-attempted stolen bases because people are afraid to even stray too far off first because he will throw them out when they’re not even trying to steal. The guy is ELITE defensively don’t make yourself look silly. An elite defensive catcher that has pop in his bat and is a great clubhouse guy makes me not give a crap about his obp.
You’re both wrong. Perez is a below average pitch framer but he’s nowhere close to the worst in the league, not even the Bottom 20. But make no mistake, he is not good at framing pitches. He is however, excellent in almost all other defensive aspects, including things that can’t really be measured, like game calling and handling the pitching staff.
He IS one of the worst in the league at pitch framing. We’re talking a bottom 10 player, by both StatCorner and Baseball Prospectus.
Ummm the catcher’s influence on runners not even bothering to steal is included in the stat. It’s actually the largest portion of the stat and where he gets all his throwing runs from. But when he’s only at 1..4 throwing runs, 0.4 blocking runs, but -8.3 runs as a receiver… well, his blocking/throwing is kind of moot. Combined with the fact that he’s such a poor offensive player now, and he ends up as a negative player. Which makes it pretty stupid to change his contract, considering he’s also been declining pretty heavily every single year he’s been in the majors so he’s only going to get even worse from here.
I dont quite understand this. Why not just give him a 6 million dollar bonus?
I also think things might have played out differently if the Royals had ANYONE waiting in the wings to be the catcher of the future. None of their catching prospects look to be anything close to Major League ready if any of them are ever future full-time big league players.