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The Kansas City Royals have agreed to terms with second baseman Omar Infante to a four-year, $30 million contract, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney. FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi was the first to note that a deal between the sides is "very close".
On Tuesday night, a source indicated that Infante was close to a decision and that the Royals felt good about their chances to land the soon-to-be 32-year old. He will fill one of the positional holes in baseball as Kansas City's second baseman after a season that saw a disastrous lack of production from Elliot Johnson, Chris Getz and Johnny Giavotella. The team did not seem to have serious interest in giving a mega-contract to Robinson Cano before he signed with the Mariners, so they opted to pursue the second best option at second base in Infante.
Infante also drew significant interest from the Yankees, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post said that they were unwilling to go past a three-year, $24 million offer for him. At this point, the Yankees will have to move on without Cano or Infante and could pursue Reds' second baseman Brandon Phillips in a trade or use new addition Kelly Johnson to man the position.
The Reds reportedly had significant interest in Infante as well, but would have had to move Phillips to make that happen. The Reds and Yankees discussed a deal that would have sent Phillips to the Bronx in exchange for Brett Gardner, but that deal never materialized.
Infante hit .318 with 10 HR and 51 RBI in 118 games for the Tigers in 2013, posting the best yearly batting average of his twelve-year career. He is a lifetime .279 hitter with 74 HR and 421 RBI, providing a significant upgrade at second base for the Royals.
