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After officially saying goodbye to Lorenzo Cain on Thursday night, the Royals have decided to re-sign shortstop Alcides Escobar, Jon Heyman and Robert Murray of FanRag Sports reports. ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that the deal is a one-year pact worth $2.5 million.
Heyman reported that the two sides were working toward a deal, while Murray confirmed shortly after that the deal was done, pending a physical.
alcides escobar and the royals are working toward an agreement to bring him back to KC
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 26, 2018
Source: #Royals, Alcides Escobar have a deal, pending physical.
— Robert Murray (@RobertMurrayFRS) January 26, 2018
Escobar is as durable as they come (has played in 162 games each of the past two years), but his everyday spot in the lineup isn’t necessarily a great thing for a Royals team that will be trying to fill massive holes with the departures of Cain, and likely Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. Escobar’s offensive production hardly helps to pick up the slack that will be left behind.
The 31-year-old Escobar has failed to record an OBP over .300 in each of the past three seasons, and finished with an OPS+ of 65 last season. While he is a steady defender, Escobar has very limited power (13 home runs the past two seasons) and seems like he could be a second option to prospect Raul Mondesi Jr., who enjoyed a successful season in Triple-A last season.
The terms of the deal have yet to be reported.