Earlier this week, the baseball world did a collective double take when reports surfaced that the New York Mets had offered free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker a short-term deal worth a staggering $50 million per year. That kind of number doesn’t just make headlines-it makes history.
To be clear, this wouldn’t be the richest contract in Mets history. That title still belongs to Juan Soto, who inked a 15-year deal last winter averaging $51 million per season.
And yes, Shohei Ohtani’s $70 million annual average value still reigns supreme-though a big chunk of that is deferred. But even so, if Tucker were to accept this deal, he’d join an incredibly exclusive club: only Ohtani and Soto have ever crossed the $50 million AAV threshold in Major League Baseball.
Now, let’s bring this back down to earth-or more specifically, to Kansas City.
The Royals haven’t been linked to Tucker this offseason, and frankly, they were never expected to be. A $50 million per year offer is simply not something that fits within the Royals' financial playbook.
That’s not a knock on the franchise-it’s just the reality of operating in a small market. And when you stack this rumored Mets offer next to the Royals’ biggest financial commitments, the gap is stark.
Kansas City’s biggest deal in franchise history is the 11-year, $288.7 million extension they gave Bobby Witt Jr. before the 2024 season. That’s a major investment in a franchise cornerstone, and it signaled a shift in the Royals’ willingness to spend. But even that long-term deal carries an average annual value of just over $26.25 million-barely half of what the Mets are reportedly offering Tucker.
Their next biggest AAV commitment? That would be Seth Lugo’s two-year extension signed midseason in 2024, which comes in at $23 million per year.
And if you go digging into free agency history, you have to go all the way back to 2016 to find Alex Gordon’s four-year, $72 million deal. That one carried an $18 million AAV, and at the time, it felt like a stretch for the franchise.
So when you hear about a $50 million per year offer, it’s not just out of the Royals’ price range-it’s in an entirely different financial universe.
But here’s the thing: money isn’t everything in baseball. The Royals have long been a team that thrives on smart scouting, player development, and a little bit of grit. They don’t win bidding wars, but they’ve shown they can win ballgames-just look at the 2015 World Series title as proof.
That championship roster was built on homegrown talent and savvy international signings. Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas came through the draft.
Salvador Perez and Yordano Ventura were international free agents. That group wasn’t expensive, but it was effective-and beloved.
Fast forward to today, and the Royals are leaning into that same blueprint. Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino are the new faces of the franchise, both drafted and developed in-house.
Salvador Perez is still here, still producing, and still setting the tone. And Maikel Garcia, another international addition, is becoming a key piece of the puzzle.
Sure, the Royals won’t be making any $50 million per year offers anytime soon. But they don’t need to.
Their path to success has always been different-less about outspending the competition and more about outsmarting them. And while it may not grab the same headlines as a blockbuster Mets deal, it’s a formula that’s worked before-and could very well work again.