Salvador Perez is among the best catchers in the MLB. He's certainly the most durable, having caught 422 games over the past three seasons. And yet, the World Series MVP is getting paid just $2 million in 2016. Rumors indicate the Kansas City Royals are attempting to change that.
Jon Heyman reported yesterday that the Royals are "quietly trying to rework/extend Perez's historically team-friendly pact." There have been rumors about this in the past, but this is perhaps the closest it's been to being followed through with.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports said earlier this month that Perez's contract "may be the single worst for a player in modern sports history." It sounds a bit harsh, but he's right.
Perez, 25, signed a five-year extension prior to the 2012 season for a paltry $7 million. With the way baseball players are being paid in this day and age, that's almost like making minimum wage. I mean, nothing against Ryan Madson, but the reliever was out of baseball for three years from 2011-2014 and then signed a three-year, $22 million contract after his successful return in 2015.
What's also criminal about Perez's contract is that after 2016 he has three team options. He'll earn $2 million this upcoming season and he has a $3.75 million team option for 2017, a $5 million team option for 2018 and a $6 million team option for 2019. He earned a total of $5 million from 2012-2015, which actually isn't too terrible since 2011 was his rookie season, but he sacrificed very lucrative arbitration years. His salaries from 2016-2019 are clearly way under the market value and the fact that the Royals possess the power to retain him or not is also pretty overbearing since that amount of team options in a single contract is not typically given to a player of Perez's caliber.
"Yes, you can argue that it is still seven million dollars, which is nothing to sneeze at," writes James E. Clark of Baseball Essential. "Yes, there are option years which make this deal even out slightly, but look at the deal Yadier Molina agreed to around the same time Perez agreed to his extension. Molina signed a five-year, $75 million dollar extension prior to the 2012 season. Their worth is comparable. Perez was unproven at the time, but still that is fair market value for an All-Star catcher. Not what Perez is currently making."
However, the Royals know they must consider their future payrolls before giving Perez a raise in subsequent seasons. Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Danny Dufffy will enter their final arbitration years next offseason while Wade Davis, Edinson Volquez, Kendrys Morales, Alcides Escobar, Luke Hochevar and Kris Medlen have sizeable team options for the 2017 season that could escalate the Royals' payroll to $162 million.
Whatever the case, Perez's contract needs to be restructured because it's a bad look for the Royals to keep him under the remaining life of that deal, especially after all he's done for the team since the 2012 season.
Just for some perspective, here are the salaries of other catchers that will be making at least double of what Perez will be earning in 2016, according to Spotrac.com:
Buster Posey - $20,777,777
Brian McCann - $17,000,000
Matt Wieters - $15,800,000
Russell Martin - $15,000,000
Yadier Molina - $14,200,000
Miguel Montero - $14,000,000
Carlos Ruiz - $8,500,000
Kurt Suzuki - $6,000,000
Wilson Ramos - $5,350,000
Devin Mesoraco - $5,025,000
A.J. Ellis - $4,500,000
Jonathan Lucroy - $4,350,000
Chris Iannetta - $4,250,000
