Kansas City Royals avoid arbitration with several players, but not Lopez or Benintendi
The Kansas City Royals might not avoid arbitration hearings with two of their projected starting position players for this season. While they reached deals with four players on Tuesday, left fielder Andrew Benintendi and second baseman Nicky Lopez appear headed to arbitration.
The club on Tuesday agreed to terms with five other arbitration-eligible players in first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn ($1.3 million), right-handed relief pitcher Scott Barlow ($2.4 million), left-handed relief pitcher Amir Garrett ($2.02 million) and backup catcher Cam Gallagher ($885,000), according to a source with knowledge of the deals.
Tuesday also marked the deadline for teams and players to exchange salary figures if they had not agreed to terms on contracts for the 2022 season.
Monday night, the Royals reached an agreement with shortstop Adalberto Mondesi on a contract for the 2022 season that avoided arbitration.
Arbitration-eligible players are not free agents. They remain under team control, but their salary for the season can be determined by an arbitrator if they do not reach a deal with their clubs.
At the start of Tuesday’s exhibition game, Lopez and Benintendi were the last two arbitration-eligible players who had not reached contract terms with the Royals.
Benintendi, who can become a free agent at the end this season, told The Star last week that he had not had talks about a long-term extension with the club.
Benintendi, 27, won his first AL Gold Glove in left field last season after having been acquired from the Boston Red Sox in a trade last February. He slashed .276/.324/.442, hit 17 home runs and recorded 73 RBIs in his first season with the Royals.
Lopez, who is eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career, started 141 games at shortstop last season with Mondesi injured for most of the season. Lopez collected career highs in hits (149), runs scored (78), triples (six), RBIs (43), extra-base hits (29), walks (49), stolen bases (22), batting average (.300), on-base percentage (.365) and OPS (.744).
He’s the first Royals left-handed hitter to bat .300 or better since Eric Hosmer in 2017 and the first Royals shortstop (at least 75 percent of his games at that position) to hit .300. His batting average ranked second among primary major-league shortstops last season behind Tim Anderson (.309) of the Chicago White Sox.
The Royals could still reach a deal with either Lopez or Benintendi or both prior to arbitration hearings. In 2015, the Royals reached a deal with Eric Hosmer after an arbitration hearing had been scheduled.
Benintendi’s filed for a salary of $8.5 million and the Royals offered $7.3 million, while Lopez filed for $2.95 million and the Royals offered $2.55 million according to MLB Network Insider and MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand.
The only case to go through the full arbitration process between the Royals and a player during president of baseball operations Dayton Moore’s tenure with the club came in 2018, when pitcher Brandon Maurer filed for a $3.5 million salary. The Royals won the hearing and Maurer made $2.95 million.
All 26 of the Royals pre-arbitration players on the 40-man roster, a group that includes pitchers Brady Singer, Kris Bubic, Daniel Lynch and Carlos Hernandez as well as position players Sebastian Rivero, MJ Melendez, Nick Pratto, Edward Olivares and Kyle Isbel, also accepted contract terms for 2022.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 4:58 PM.
