Hearings and anxiety avoided: KC Royals, 4 players reach agreements

Any anxiety about their ability to get a quartet of arbitration-eligible players under contract ended Thursday when the KC Royals announced they've wrapped up all four with new deals.

The Royals and Brady Singer, Carlos Hernández, Nick Anderson, and Kyle Wright had until today to hammer out salary agreements for the 2024 season; had they not done so, they had until this evening to exchange salary proposals in preparation for later arbitration hearings.

The deals, each for one year, came on the heels of Wednesday's news that the deadlines for 2024 agreements and pay proposals had been moved up from Friday to Thursday, and continue the Royals' long-renowned ability to avoid through negotiation the risk of winner-take-all arbitration hearings.

What might these new contracts mean?

How much money will the four KC pitchers make in 2024?

Excellent question to which there is, as of this writing, no answer confirmed by the club; the Royals, who typically hold such information close to the vest, haven't announced the terms of the Singer, Hernández, Anderson, and Wright deals.

But citing sources, MLB.com KC beat writer Anne Rogers reports that Singer signed for $4.85 million, Wright for $1.8 million, Anderson for $1.575 million, and Hernández for $1.0125 million.

Major League Baseball Trade Rumors previously projected that Singer could make $5.1 million in arbitration, and that the other three hurlers could make much less, putting Anderson at $1.6 million, Wright at $1.4 million, and Hernández at $1.3 million.

How will the finances of the new contracts impact the franchise?

Presuming Rogers' sources are correct, and considering her work there's no reason to believe they're not, there isn't enough money involved to seriously affect the Royals' money situation. So, the club remains in solid position to extend Bobby Witt Jr. if it and Witt are so inclined.

And at their reported terms, the new contacts make each player affordable for teams that might choose to seek them in trades. Although the Royals' previously aggressive offseason activity has slowed down, they probably aren't finished making deals, and Singer and Hernández have both been subjects of on-again, off-again trade speculation. Anderson, an established and effective reliever the club acquired this winter via a trade with the Braves, could end up as an attractive trade piece at the mid-summer deal deadline.

Wright, on the other hand, probably isn't going anywhere — the offseason shoulder surgery he had after the 2023 campaign means he'll likely spend the coming season on the Injured List.

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