Royals, Salvador Perez agree to four year, $82 million contract extension

Salvador Perez has been one of the few bright spots for the Kansas Royals in recent years. In addition to being an important cog during the Royals’ run to the 2015 World Series trophy, Perez has been one of the most consistent performers at catcher in the entire league during his career. Generally speaking, a lot of teams just stitch together catching platoons of guys that can manage games well and hope to get something worth while offensively. In the case of Perez, he has been mostly a lock to play 130 games or more a season and has posted a career line of .269/.300/.449. OBP issues aside, not too shabby when you consider what catchers normally provide.

It hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows for Perez as he had Tommy John surgery which cost him all of the 2019 season and had some eye issues last season. However, the six time All-Star, five time Gold Glover, and three time Silver Slugger is still regarded highly around the league and is especially highly regarded in Kansas City. Apparently, he was more highly regarded than many thought there, in fact.

For Perez, this deal is a no brainer. He plays at a position where there is a ton of wear and tear and somehow getting a $20 million per year extension at the age of 30 when his best season from an rWAR perspective was 4.2 and that was back in 2013...well, if you get that contract offer, you have to take it.

As for the Royals, the decision-making is a bit more curious. The Royals rather famously don’t generally have a lot of wiggle room from a payroll perspective and committing that much money to guy who is exiting his prime and who sports a .300 career on-base percentage is...tough to understand. One wonders if the Royals are adding a bit of a premium in for him as a mentor-type for the steady stream of young players we can expect to see joining KC’s roster in the coming years.