At the end of the day (or contract), every player's going to want top dollar.

But this was a good way for the Royals to add control and gain a sense of trust. The Gordon/Perez deals will go over very well in the clubhouse.

Again, not saying this gets Hosmer any closer to a deal, but I think it's a good move. Is there a more respected front office inside baseball than ours? I mean, even Scott Boras likes working with us.

2 added years of control.

Previous team options ran through 2019. This adds two years to the deal.

Awesome!

Mike Moustakas agreed to a two-year, $14.3 million contract with the Kansas City Royals on Thursday to avoid arbitration, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports.

They just gave Moose a big pay raise. If he continues to keep improving- I bet they won't let him go. Same with Hosmer.

These guys are Big fish in a little pond. This is home. They would most likely get more money elsewhere-but would be just another player. Money isn't everything.

I've long expected them to leave as free agents, with maybe an outside chance at keeping Moustakas.

Because the team keeps surprising me, I think I have adjusted the likelihood of them staying in KC up a few notches.

Keeping Perez, Hosmer, and Moustakas together for five more years (and incorporating younger players at the positions that require major athleticism - CF and SS) doesn't seem impossible at this point.

Duncan, don't let the recent success fool you! Expectations management is critical to weathering the long droughts KC sports brings.

Buying out arbitration years really doesn't mean anything to me re: willingness to sign long-term. Its low risk for the player to add a bit of security for years where he's stuck with the team in case he has a bad year and is staring at an unpleasant arbitration hearing.

Scott Boras believes that even if you want to stay with your team, even if you want to give them a discount, you should still test free agency to find out what you are worth. Then you can go back to your team and say "I found out that I'm actually worth X. I'll give you a discount of Y, but you gotta at least do that much"

A bit off topic but Justice Sotomayor referenced the "World Champion Kansas City Royals" in a Supreme Court opinion today:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions...-8358_o7jp.pdf

Nice to see the Royals recognized in legal opinions.

Not saying I love the chances, but they now seem better than the nearly zero percent chance I previously would have put on it.

Of course, if Hosmer goes 300/30/100/100/.375/.550 this year and next, they dim again.

I like the commitment to the players and to winning that is being displayed.

DM can do whatever he wants, he's earned that right. I'd rather have it go to Perez than Glass. But it's still bullshit it's a 1-way street. Sal earns a raise sure....but Outfante damn well deserved a cut

This is awesome. The case is a rather dry one where in this phrase: “relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor or ward.” does "involving a minor or ward" apply to only the third item in the list, or all 3? (The court said only the last item by a vote of 6-2)

To make that point, Sotomayor (who is a huge Yankees fan) wrote this:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Salvy Perez, Lo Cain and the new tattoo <a href="https://t.co/twgs4BPlXU">pic.twitter.com/twgs4BPlXU</a></p>&mdash; Joel Goldberg (@goldbergkc) <a href="https://twitter.com/goldbergkc/status/704735258055299073">March 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

We got Gordon and Salvy locked up now for the future.

Here is how I would rank the next class in importance of getting signed/value:
1. Hosmer
2. Moose
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
3. Cain
4. Esky

Typically, do players like LoCain see a sharp drop-off related to age?

Personally, if there were one player we were planning on keeping between Hosmer, Moustakas, Escobar, and Cain, I would prefer Cain.