Ned Yost, Dayton Moore express desire to remain with Royals long term as offseason work begins

A pair of lame ducks, baseball men without contracts beyond this coming season, gathered for a news conference on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. In between them resided the reason neither harbors any concern about job security.

On the left sat Royals general manager Dayton Moore. Next to him was manager Ned Yost. In the middle was the Commissioner’s Trophy, the prize the team earned when it captured the World Series.

“I’m totally comfortable with where I sit right now,” Yost said. “And I’m more of a lame deer than a lame duck. That stuff all takes care of itself. Dayton and I will take care of it down the road. We haven’t even discussed it for a second.”

When Yost negotiated a contract extension after 2014, he accepted only one additional year, through 2016, because he did not feel comfortable taking a contract longer than Moore’s contract. The duo remains a package deal, and Moore indicated both are expected to receive extensions later this winter.

“I think it’ll get handled,” Moore said. “I want to be here for a long time. I want Ned here for a long time. But Ned and I, we have not even discussed our situations.”

Merely four days removed from the final game of the Fall Classic, the Royals have already shifted gears toward assembling a team for 2016. The team exercised a $5.25 million option on shortstop Alcides Escobar and an $8 million option on closer Wade Davis. Kansas City also declined a club option on outfielder Jonny Gomes.

In addition, the Royals announced their intention to extend outfielder Alex Gordon a $15.8 million qualifying offer. The offer guarantees the team will receive a compensatory draft pick if Gordon signs with another team. Gordon declined his $14 million player option on Wednesday, which opened the door for 29 other teams to sign him.

“We all knew that we would probably opt out of his contract,” Yost said. “But it still took my breath away when I saw it. I just love Alex Gordon. He’s just a tremendous individual, a tremendous baseball player.”

Yet Gordon may ply his trade elsewhere in 2016. He looms as the most momentous free-agent decision for the Royals, who are also interested in re-signing super-utility man Ben Zobrist. As currently constructed, the Royals feature vacancies in both corner outfield spots. They also seek an additional 400 innings from starting pitchers, a void which could be filled through free agency.

The Royals showed little interest in negotiating a new deal with Gordon before this season began, which is generally the time when teams strike long-term extensions with franchise pillars. Rival executives Gordon could fetch a contract worth somewhere between $90 and $100 million. The Royals have never given out a contract worth more than $55 million.

Moore also does not want to compromise his team’s ability to potentially strike extensions with fellow cornerstones like Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer or Mike Moustakas.

“I know you guys are going to get crushed every day with ‘What are we going to do with Alex Gordon?’” Moore said. “If I knew, I would tell you. We’re going to take it a day at a time. We’re going to communicate. And we’re going to just evaluate the market one day at a time.”

Yet Moore indicated he would not attempt to play on Gordon’s sentimentality in search of a team-friendly deal.

“I never take advantage of a relationship,” Moore said. “You keep it professional. Business is business. You do the right thing. It’s about the Kansas City Royals. I say that because I don’t think there’s any doubt in any of our minds that we want Alex, and Alex wants to be here.

“But, again, I’m not going to take advantage of a relationship. Alex has given us everything that he possibly can, each and every day. And we’ve given him everything that we could.”

The Royals will also pursue Zobrist, but Moore stressed the team still expected Omar Infante to contribute at second base in 2016. Infante is still under contract through 2017, despite his status as the least-productive every-day hitter in baseball in 2015.

The team’s ability to afford Zobrist could depend on their negotiations with Gordon, though it is likely both will play for new organizations next year.

The situation will not be resolved until Gordon picks a destination. That likely will not occur until the middle of December. Until then, the Royals will keep checking the boxes on their to-do list.

The Royals will non-tender arbitration-eligible reliever Greg Holland, who underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of the regular season, but Moore said there is interest in keeping Holland in the organization under a multi-year contract.

Moore indicated the team’s coaching staff will remain intact for 2016, with one exception. The Royals are still discussing a future role for beloved first-base coach Rusty Kuntz. Kuntz would like to shift to a job as an instructor in the minors. The team would prefer he sticks on the big-league staff. Moore assured that Kuntz would remain in the organization, regardless of his position.

In the coming weeks, all these things will be decided. But Moore and Yost still felt like the triumph of their achievement had not sunk in yet. At one point during the press conference, Yost stared at the trophy next to him.

“It’s something I knew in my heart we were going to do,” Yost said. “I just knew it. I just knew it was a matter of time until we did it.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Ned Yost, Dayton Moore express desire to remain with Royals long term as offseason work begins."