3 biggest bargains currently on the KC Royals

It seems like every season Whit is moved to another position and yet he continues to produce on the field and at the plate regardless.

For a guy whose career minor league batting average was .274, his debut on the KC Royals at the age of 27 in 2016 was not expected to lead to big things.  Whit Merrifield was a nice addition putting up decent, but not spectacular numbers.

In a full year in 2017, however, Whit exploded with his still career-high 19 home runs and 34 stolen bases (which led the league).  His versatility, which is still on display, was huge as he played every infield position but short and every outfield spot except center…which is ironically where he is projected to fill most days in Kansas City for 2020.

His stats really took off in 2018 as he batted over .300 for the first time and stole another league-leading 45 stolen bases.  Merrifield also had more hits than anyone in baseball, a feat which he duplicated in 2019.  Pulling that off is a rare occurrence, especially for a right-handed batter.

How much has this cost the Royals?  For 2019 he earned a whopping $1 million.  In the offseason, Whit did sign an extension for four years for just over $16 million and for 2020 his salary will be $5 million.  Still, one heck of a bargain for a guy who plays every day, hits for average, has speed and can play almost anywhere in the field.

Not much needs to be said about the power performance put on by the slugger last year, but it did not earn him as much as you would think.

As the KC Royals were shredding the last remnants of a dominant bullpen that was a key cog to the World Series years, Wade Davis was sent to the Chicago Cubs for Jorge Soler in December of 2016.  Soler had promise but had never received a full year of playing time to see for sure what was there.

His first couple years with Kansas City was marred by injury and poor play so what happened in 2019 came out of left field.  Not only did Soler play in all 162 games, but he also rewrote the Royals home run record that Mike Moustakas had set just a couple of years ago, led the league in bombs and produced an OPS of .922.

His blasts were a thing of beauty as well and when he went deep there was often little doubt it was out of the park.  In a season the fans of the Royals had little to cheer about, it was an event to come to Kauffman Stadium and see if he would say goodbye to another pitch.

Although not eligible for free agency until 2022, the Royals were wise to give him a one year contract with a raise from $4.6 million to $7 million.  Although that is a bargain if he comes close to the numbers he had last season it at least showed goodwill on the team’s part.  What he may command in a year or two could be more than double this amount.

Another avenue the KC Royals have tried to acquire cheap talent is from the Rule 5 draft.  In 2018 they hit on a player who has turned in two decent seasons.

I do not know how many people expected Brad Keller to make the team out of spring training in 2018 but if he was not kept on the big league roster the entire year he had to be offered back to his former team.  He easily was the best pitcher on the pitching staff instead of just hanging on to the team.

A mix of relief and starting appearances led to a 3.08 ERA and 3.5 WAR.  In 2019 Keller was anointed with starting opening day.  Although a full-time starting role last year did not result in nearly as pretty stats he still was a workhorse putting in 28 starts, a respectable 4.19 ERA and still produced a WAR of 2.5.

Keller still has three years of arbitration left before he hits free agency in 2024.  What that means, for now, is that the Royals are able to pay him just above the league minimum at $583,500.  This is obviously a tremendous steal considering other players with far worse stats are making millions.

As we see with the Merrifield and Soler deals, the KC Royals are putting value in locking up their young players before they enter full-blown free agency.  The one year deal with Soler is hopefully a building block to lock him before he can be wooed away by a team with deeper pockets.  Others to look at raising their salaries soon would-be stars like Adalberto Mondesi, Hunter Dozier and any other young stars who start to make an impact in the big leagues.