Royals got absolute steal with Cole Ragans following Garrett Crochet contract details

The Royals employ one of the most dominant left-handed starters in all of baseball. Last season, Cole Ragans dazzled in his first full season as a starter, logging 186 1/3 innings pitched and posting a 3.14 ERA en route to an All-Star selection and a fourth-place finish in the Cy Young voting.

The 27-year-old southpaw enters 2025 as one of the favorites for the AL Cy Young award in some analysts' eyes, and thanks to a savvy decision to strike while the iron was hot, he will remain in Kansas City at a reasonable rate for the foreseeable future.

The Royals agreed to a three-year $13.25 million extension with Ragans, which will cover this season and his first two years of arbitration. The move was a smart one, given that salaries for elite players can skyrocket in arbitration, where there is no maximum increase.

Kansas City will still have one year of arbitration control left with Ragans once the extension expires, giving them the flexibility to non-tender him should injuries or poor performance become an issue, but that's more of an unlikely scenario. The hope is that the good will created with this deal will help in potential talks to extend him even further at a more reasonable rate. Or, of course, there's simply the option of letting him play out his final year of arbitration, making the four-year total a reasonable one even with a large arbitration award.

In contrast to the Garrett Crochet extension, the Royals' decision looks even more prudent

The Red Sox decision to hand Garrett Crochet a six-year $170 million contract extension paints the Royals' handling of Cole Ragans in an even more favorable light. The Red Sox are only buying out Crochet's final year of arbitration, and as a result, are paying market rate for a pitcher with just one year of elite performance.

Both Ragans and Crochet broke out in 2024; both are high-strikeout lefty starters, and both had circuitous routes to finding their place atop a rotation. However, there are some key differences.

One can argue that Ragans, who pitched 40 more innings than Crochet in the same amount of starts in 2024, is the better pitcher, and a more durable one at that. While Ragans has had some calf issues in the past, Crochet has had a history of arm trouble including Tommy John surgery in 2022 and a shoulder issue in 2023.

Simply put, a $4.42 million average annual value for Ragans over this season and two more to follow is a much better bet than a $28.33 million AAV for Crochet over the six years to come. By agreeing to a deal that will depress Ragans' salary over the coming years, the Royals retain the necessary payroll flexibility to continue building a contender without having a massive budget like Boston.

No matter how you slice it, the Cole Ragans extension was one of the most brilliant moves of the offseason, and looks even better in light of Garrett Crochet's mega-deal.