Few players screwed up their free agency situation more than Mike Moustakas.
The third baseman on Thursday agreed to a one-year deal to return to the Kansas City Royals, according to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, who says there is a mutual option for a second year. Passan reports that the deal guarantees Moustakas $6.5 million and can max out at $22.7 million if the sides agree to the $15 million option next year.
Mike Moustakas has agreed to a one-year deal with a mutual second-year option with the Kansas City Royals, sources with knowledge of the deal tell Yahoo Sports. It guarantees him $6.5 million and can max out at $22.7 million.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 9, 2018
Mike Moustakas' deal has a $5.5M salary in 2018 with $2.2 million in performance bonuses. There is a mutual option for $15 million in 2019 with a $1 million buyout.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 9, 2018
The deal is so cheap that I kept waiting for Passan to say he had made a typo and that Moustakas was getting $15.5 million in 2018 rather than $5.5 million.
As if a third baseman who hit 38 homers in his walk year signing for $5.5 million weren’t shocking enough, what’s worse is what Moustakas turned down. The third baseman rejected Kansas City’s qualifying offer earlier in the offseason. The QO would have paid him $17.4 million this season.
With many teams already set at third base, others holding out for Manny Machado and Josh Donaldson, and high draft compensation being tied to signing Moustakas, the market for the third baseman turned out to be very cold. Now he’ll be set to re-enter free agency next offseason and hoping to land the kind of deal he was looking for this offseason. For now, this seems to be one of the biggest miscalculations we’ve seen in a while.
