March 11: The Royals have announced the signing. To make room on the 40-man roster, Perez has been placed on the 60-day injured list.
March 9: The Royals are in agreement with free agent catcher Martin Maldonado on a one-year, $2.5MM contract, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter). Maldonado can earn up to $1.4MM in incentives. The deal is pending a physical.
This union was destined ever since the Royals lost starter Salvador Perez for the season to Tommy John surgery. The Royals were left with only Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria atop their depth chart, which easily would have been the most inexperienced duo in the league. The Maldonado signing likely gives Viloria more time to season in the minors, as he had not appeared above High-A before getting 29 plate appearances with the Royals last season.
While Maldonado has a good chance of becoming a trade chip before the end of July – he’s a good one, one of the most accomplished defensive backstops in the game, and he should help buoy a young Royals staff.
As MLBTR’s own Steve Adams wrote just two days ago: “That Maldonado remains unsigned has seemed an oddity in recent weeks; while he’s unequivocally a below-average hitter, the 32-year-old is also among the game’s premier defenders at his position. As I noted about three weeks ago when Maldonado was linked to the Mariners, the 2016 Gold Glover ranks third among all active catchers in Defensive Runs Saved dating back to the 2012 season, trailing only Buster Posey and Yadier Molina — each of whom has caught at least 2000 more innings than Maldonado in that span. He’s also a perennially strong pitch framer with a career 38 percent caught-stealing rate, including a ridiculous 49 percent mark in 2018 (17-for-35).”
Considering the prevalence of time shares at the catching position these days, it was indeed surprising that it took Maldonado so long to find a home. With the Brewers, Angels and Astros, he has a career batting line of .220/.289/.350, but that shouldn’t have been much of a deterrent in an ecosystem that lacks elite offensive production from the catching spot. Playing devil’s advocate here, Maldonado’s 0.9 fWAR in 2018 places him tied for 25th among catchers last season, on par with names like Matt Wieters and Nick Hundley, both of whom had to settle for minor league deals this winter. Maldonado was rumored to have received a two-year, $12MM offer from the Astros early in the winter, but according to his former agent Scott Boras, they never received a formal offer from Houston, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter).
Interestingly, the deal comes just a few days after Maldonado switched representation, hiring Dan Lozano of the MVP Sports Group. Maldonado had spent just a few months (since August) with the Boras Corporation. Still, it appears this contract was put in place before the switch, as Boras will collect commission on the deal. Rosenthal (via Twitter) quotes Boras as saying, “The Kansas City deal was in place and finalized without us knowing Maldonado had switched agents.”
Best signing they could have made. But not for my fantasy team. Lol
I knew Maldonado was going to be signed by the Kansas City Royals.
Cool.
K.C. Cool.
Dodgers should have signed him,he would have been there best catcher and a lot cheaper then Martin. the they could have signed marwin Gonzales
Dodgers are paying Martin $3.5m
Maldonado will make $2.5m base and up to $3.9 with bonuses.
So not cheaper.
will i ever amount to anything?
No.
thank you captain foresight.
i don’t know how much astros were offering. they seem like a better opportunity for him to play in postseason.
They offered him 2 @ 12 at the end of the season and he listened to Boras and turned it down. What a dumb mistake. Boras is losing slot of his aura and rightfully so.
Probably explains why he changed agents.
Do you have a link to those numbers? I find it very hard to believe that would be offered to a guy who has a career .639 OPS.
he is a very good defensive catcher with a canon arm. personally, i think he sets too far out of strike zone sometimes and force the pitchers to throw too many balls but that’s just me. other than that he’s what you want as a catcher.
No, I don’t have the link but it was from Ken Rosenthal.
Sandy Leon with a better bat if that’s possible and leon’s bat is awful to begin with.
both have immense respect of the pitching staff, but both are black hole’s in the lineup offensively. Think myself catcher is the 1 position where having a really tremendous catcher, such as these 2 makes it livable for a team it carries over so well to the pitching staff .
The contract was signed when Boras was still Maldonado’s agent and Boras is getting the commission on this contract.
And as an Astros fan, I’d much rather have him than Chirinos. Lose/lose in this situation.
Chirinos comes out smelling like a rose. Leaves the rebuilding Rangers for a contender AND gets an extra $1.35 million in salary and buyout.
he meant lose/lose for astros and maldonado… or did you already know that
Would love to get this inside story on his off season. I get the feeling he turned down some much bigger offers earlier in the winter, I wonder if he or Boras is to blame. Anyhow, rootin for ya Maldy. Hit above .260 and go get yourself a 3 year deal next year
Given that he switched agents, I would bet Boras was to blame. Would be pretty bad to have turned down a 2/12 to turn around and accept a 1/2.5
He gets flipped at the deadline.
Sure makes that agency look really good/Boras look really bad for non-superstar guys.
Viloria gets more seasoning in the minors until Maldonado can be traded to a contender for a prospect.
Win, win, win.
This.
Don’t count on much of a prospect for a guy who would still be without a job if Perez hadn’t gone down.
I think players arent going to see salary growth until the teams are able to put a wedge into Boras and players. He got too big for his britches and now they want him gone
Boras gonna get his
Redemption or Percentage?
nothing good
As long as it spends…
I think you’ll see an increase in mid range players moving away from boras. Simply put his model of waiting the market out doesn’t work for those guys. There’s too many comparables and teams won’t wait around for them. if I was a top of the market player I’d be all in on Boras. But if you’re on the Moose/MarwinG kind of productive but not great level I’m signing with a different agent because quite frankly boras adds little value.
I agree, jbigz. Why on earth doesn’t Boras simply handle his negotiating strategy differently for the more middle market level players? Perhaps he’s not all that smart after all, a bit of a one trick pony who can only present and broker a player with a single approach.
I think boras was a very good agent. He gets all his name recognition for a reason. He’s gotten lots of guys lots of cash. But if he doesn’t adapt for those middle market guys soon he’s going to lose them. You can’t keep ending up with these kind of results. It hasn’t been a sudden shift because quite frankly I believe some of these players probably don’t/didn’t think in their head that they were closer to mid range guys than studs. Inevitably they will go if they keep seeing these kinds of results though.
If I were in charge of a rival agency I’d be beginning to smell blood in the water. There’s a definite opportunity for another agency to start eating up more of the market.
Welcome to the MLBTR owner’s lounge!!!
Screw Scott Borass!
Why? Why does everyone hate Scott Boras? He’s an agent. The best at what he does (for a long time now too). He is a paid lobbyist. He sells these teams on his clients feats and what they could do for their business. He is SUPPOSED to get his guys a ton of money. That’s why he is who he is, and why his net worth is north of 400 million. A true capitalist in the land of capitalism.
Gosh dang it, Mariners.
Scott Boras and co. may have been preparing Maldonado to potentially sit out through part of the season, at the same time assuring him that one of those early off-season offers would eventually come through the pipeline. A fine strategy for the agent and his commission, but lousy for the player who might wind up sitting out the entire season.
Just 20 days until the season starts, and I don’t blame Maldonado for jumping on board with the best contract offer available, in this case a perfect fit for our KC Royals. Obviously, we can’t afford to sign a one year replacement for Salvy to replace those 27 HR’s that he’s hit for the last two years. Maldonado replaces Salvy’s defense, and possibly more, and with a probably sub-avg rotation, we’re going to need those excellent catching skills to nurse the pitchers through the season.
I see what you’re saying but personally would rather have had them just use Gallagher. Perez gets hurt in some way every year. Should Gallagher have proven to be effective in an expanded role that may have changed the way they handle Salvy in the future. Also, remember last year when he got hurt carrying his luggage just as the season started and how limited we were with Butera playing everyday? Having a backup with a full year of starting would have been quite a luxury. As for Maldonado handling the staff, don’t forget that Gallagher has caught many of them for years. I understand not rushing Viloria, but sign a catcher as a backup, not a starter. As soon as a young player gets a chance in KC they start talking about him being too old to be part of the future.
Good comment, Thunder. I think that you know more about this than I do.
I get frustrated with Moore and Yost. They talk younger players all winter then when camp starts they get cold feet and start bringing in stop-gap retreads. We’re gonna finish 20 games below .500 either way. These guys have nothing else to prove in the minors and there are youngsters coming up fast behind him. Let’s see what they can do. Should one or more show any value at all it will accomplish more than playing Dieckman, Storen, Peralta and this guy.
I don’t think Maldonado needs to be an exclusive starter. I could see a scenario where Gallagher and him split time. I also believe it’s highly likely a catching needy team calls for Maldonado by July and that would give Gallagher the rest of the season. At this price point there’s too many reasons to sign Maldonado than to not IMO
You apparently haven’t watch Ned Yost closely enough. Gallagher will play on scrub Sunday and occasionally when Junis pitches.
Thunder, how do you rate Gallagher as a defensive player currently? Presumably, he’s not up to Maldonado’s standard yet, since he’s so good. But Cam’s hitting stats show him to be a better prospect offensively;
milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=595956#/career…
imo, the Royals may not have given up on Gallagher yet. It’s just that financially, they really can’t afford to have a record like last year’s yet again in 2019. Isn’t it a matter of having to sign a defensive standout like Maldonado in the hope that he keeps the pitching staff reasonably stable? It looks possible to me that this team might get to maybe 75 wins as long as the pitching (both ends) stands up half way decently. But also to make that number, then Alex and Soler absolutely have to hit for power and avg.
Your opinion on all this, Thunder, and anyone else who wants to chip in their thoughts?
Gallagher isn’t really a prospect. He’s an organizational backup catcher.
By that, oct27, you mean that he’s too old to improve much more? If that’s your meaning, he’s 26 yrs and 3 mos, but won’t be 27 until Dec. 2019. You may well be correct in your assessment, but a significant majority of hitters don’t reach their prime years until they’re fully 27, even 28 with some guys. On that basis, I’d still say that Cam is a prospect as a hitter until we’ve seen what he does in the 2020 season.
As far as catchers and their defensive abilities, their ability to frame pitches and handle a 5-man rotation plus bullpen staff, I have no idea as to their rate of maturation. Have you read anything on this aspect yourself?.
I honestly don’t follow defensive stats for catchers very closely so I can’t say. I did read one article that said Gallagher was a much better pitch framer than Perez. Maldonado is apparently a better defender but I doubt that makes a single game difference in the won-lost record. I’d rather watch kids go 70-92 than retreads go 75-87…and no way do Maldonado, Dieckman, Storen, etc make 5 games difference anyway.
The value of Maldonado, Diekman, And Boxberger is more so in their potential as flip candidates. That’s 3 potential trade assets that can land you more young guys. This team has plenty of open spots for young guys to play. Particularly in the bullpen. Maldonado might block Gallagher but from his minor league numbers and the way KC has chosen to use him in the bigs I’m guessing they aren’t too high on him.
That’s what people said about Duda, Boyer and Grimm last year. We got nothing for two of them and I don’t even remember what we got for Duda…cash, maybe. These guys won’t bring much more. Teams have realized the value of good young prospects and aren’t anxious to flip them for this type of player. The entire “flip” thing is way overrated…and Moore has proven to be not so great at trading.
Boyer has been pretty bad for awhile. Effective LH relievers bring things back. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Diekman fetch something. These signings obviously aren’t all going to be homeruns because they’re bargain bin signings. You didn’t pay much for these guys because they have question marks. Should Boxberger
And Diekman return to old form they’ll have value for sure. They’re not kicking out many deserving candidates in the KC pen. Your bullpen will be filled with young guys even with their additions
Yeah – but this has more to do with Viloria than it does Gallagher. We’ll still see plenty of Cam – but Viloria hasn’t even seen AA yet.
I like this move a lot. Keep the defense as strong as possible and let your catching prospect develop the right way instead of sitting on a bench in KC.
But Vilo has a higher ceiling than Cam, and at the same time isn’t our main catching prospect. Melendez should be near MLB by Sept 2020, and I’d rather know what we have in Vilo at that point.
When you’re developing young pitchers I think an experienced receiver is very valuable. Having Maldonado versus some 22 year old catcher who hasn’t even played in AA Is a fairly obvious choice imo. Seems like the kid could use some more work in the minors with opportunity for a cameo in August if/when they trade Maldonado.
No one is advocating for Viloria to be the starter. The only reason he came up last year was because he was on the 40 man roster. The guys below him don’t have to go on the 40 man yet so they were never in the mix for this year. As I said earlier, sign a veteran backup and let Gallagher catch 5 times a week, not the other way around. Heck…Butera is available. Sign him to catch on Scrub Sunday and occasionally through the week.
You were not but very clearly some posters above were. Read through those comments again and you’ll definitely find people advocating for Viloria to be up in the bigs. Yost used Salvy in that manner but that may not be the case with a different catcher. We shall see
Thunder, we Tiger fans feel your pain, as it is quite similar to what we are seeing lately.
moron had $12m offer and thought he could do better, even though he sucks? LMAO
The curse of Boras continues.
Weird situation. Glad he got a contract, he earned it. Nice fallback option for the Royals.
Mariners and Cubs should’ve stepped up and signed him.
Excellent signing by the Royales with Cheese. The catcher position is going to get its due recognition soon. You need a good catcher behind the plate because without one, the umpire better wear a sturdy cup.
They keep replacement umps on hand, so no need for bulky cups, said the childless ump.