The Kansas City Royals have been taking care of business this MLB offseason. They've signed a number of free agents and avoided arbitration with important in-house players. Third baseman Mike Moustakas is a now a beneficiary of the latter.
Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reported that the Royals and Moustakas were "close" to avoiding arbitration with a two-year, $14.3 million contract extension. Jon Heyman confirmed shortly after that the deal was done. Flanagan added that Moustakas will earn $5.6 million in 2016 and $8.7 million in 2017.
MLBTradeRumors.com projected the third baseman to earn $5.7 million in 2016.
The deal will cover Moustakas through his arbitration years.
The team announced the transaction on Twitter shortly after the news broke.
#Royals sign @Mooose_8 to a 2-year contract, avoiding arbitration. All of KC's arb eligible players are now signed for 2016.
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) February 12, 2016
This seems to be a trend for the Royals as they did the same with outfielder Lorenzo Cain this offseason (two-year, $17.5 million contract) and Eric Hosmer last offseason (two-year, $13.9 million contract, although he still has one more year of arbitration after the 2016 season).
Moustakas, 27, hit .284/.348/.470 with 73 runs scored, 22 home runs and 82 RBI in 147 games in 2015 as he helped the Royals to their first World Series title since 1985. That offense didn't show up to the postseason, but his defense and leadership did.
Kansas City has now taken care of all of their arbitration-eligible players and this marks the 10th consecutive year under general manager Dayton Moore that the organization has avoided an arbitration hearing. The team also settled with Cain, Danny Duffy, Jarrod Dyson, Tim Collins and Drew Butera.
The Royals will enter the 2016 MLB season with a franchise-record payroll as they hope to make another deep playoff run. Moustakas figures to be an integral figure for the team over the next two seasons. Kansas City has a lot of players coming off the books after 2017, which will likely affect their chances at re-signing a majority of them, meaning their window to win another world championship is rapidly closing.
