Royals avoid arbitration with Dozier, Soler and non-tender Franco before deadline
Former AL home run champion Jorge Soler and infielder/outfielder Hunter Dozier agreed with the Kansas City Royals on contracts for the 2021 season on Wednesday, and the sides avoided arbitration in the process.
The moves were made ahead of MLB’s 7 p.m. Wednesday non-tender deadline for clubs to offer contracts to players currently on their 40-man rosters. Players not offered a contract became free agents.
Soler agreed to an $8.05 million, one-year deal, plus incentives, and Dozier agreed to a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $2.72 million, per a source with knowledge of the agreements.
The Royals did not tender contracts to third baseman Maikel Franco, infielder Jeison Guzman, infielder/outfielder Erick Mejia and outfielder Bubba Starling.
The Franco move does not come as a surprise.
Franco is coming off a good offensive season and is eligible for salary arbitration after having signed for a base salary of $2.95 million last winter. MLBTradeRumors.com projects his 2021 salary between $4.5 million and $8 million depending on various methods of calculation, while Spotrac estimates his salary at $6.25 million.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore did not completely close the door on Franco’s return.
“Maikel did an amazing job for us, but looking at our internal options and players that are potentially available to us on the market, we felt that it was best to stay open-minded at that position right now,” Moore said Wednesday night. “But we would certainly consider bringing him back.”
The Royals entered the week with a large group of arbitration-eligible players without contracts, but pitchers Jesse Hahn, Jakob Junis and outfielder Franchy Cordero agreed to deals on Tuesday. After Wednesday’s moves, shortstop Adalberto Mondesi and starting pitcher Brad Keller are the Royals’ only two arbitration-eligible players who are unsigned.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 3:27 PM.
