While Salvador Perez is a fan favorite and many are excited to see him sign a long term contract extension with the Royals, I believe there are some reasons to worry about this contract. Perez’s contract is the largest contract in team history surpassing Royals great Alex Gordon’s four-year $72 million contract. The Royals handed Perez a four-year contract extension worth $82 million. While I believe Perez is a great catcher, I believe the Royals overpaid him. As of right now, Perez has produced for the Royals over the years, but what will happen as he gets older? My guess is that he will begin to decline. I also believe he won’t remain the starting catcher during the entire life of the agreement due to his size. However, I believe he is definitely part of the team’s long term plans. With rumors of outfielder Jorge Soler being on the trade block, I believe in the next few years, Salvador will see his playing time behind the plate decline while he transitions to the designated hitter role and maybe play some first base from time to time. With the Royals giving players like Hunter Dozier and Salvador Perez big contracts recently, I believe they will continue to hand out contract extensions to other players like Brad Keller and Adalberto Mondesi in the near future. While I think the Royals overpaid Perez, I believe they made the right move by making him a Royal for life to allow him to possibly join Royals greats like George Brett, Alex Gordon, and others in the Royals Hall of Fame in the near future. For now, I hope that Perez continues to play at the level he has been for the Royals over the past few years, so the contract doesn’t turn out to be the worst contract in team history.
