The Royals didn’t have many tough decisions, but they did have a couple.
I’m going to get to them, I swear. But first, I want to kind of go over what this deadline is. This is the time to basically commit that a team is going to give a contract to any player who is on the 40-man and not already on a guaranteed contract. We tend to think of it as arbitration-eligible players only, but it’s also for those who are not yet in arbitration. So for the Royals, that meant everyone but Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Bobby Witt Jr., Carlos Estevez, Salvador Perez, Cole Ragans and Alex Lange.
There will be times throughout the offseason, much closer to spring training for most, that the Royals announce they’ve reached a one-year deal with this player or that player. I implore you to not be that person who complains about them only committing one year to Vinnie Pasquantino or Maikel Garcia (if they’re not extended). They’re still under team control for as long as they’re under team control.