Copyright clutchpoints
Kansas City Royals legend Salvador Perez is not going anywhere. On Tuesday night, the Royals announced that they have come to terms with Perez on a two-year deal which would take him to his age-37 season. The new contract is worth a guarantee of $25 million for the duration of the contract, as reported by Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The Royals initially had a club option worth $13.5 million to keep Perez in tow for the 2026 season. Instead, Kansas City decided to lock up one of the most important players in franchise history to a longer-term contract that guarantees more money. The structure of the contract, as per Rogers, involves a signing bonus and some deferred money, but overall, the deal works out to around $12.5 million per annum for Perez. Perez may no longer be one of the best catchers in MLB, as his defense has slipped as he’s aged. That is to be expected; of the 155 games he played in last season, only 92 came at catcher. This slippage on defense made his overall production fall, as his contributions in 2025 were only worth 0.5 fWAR. Nonetheless, the 35-year-old catcher still has plenty of pop, and he could very well rebound as a backstop. He hit 30 home runs last year and drove in 100 batters, although that did come on an overall substandard .730 OPS with a .284 OBP. The Royals finished with an 82-80 record last year, as some of their team’s biggest strengths include fielding and pitching. It’s their offense that needs some work; they finished with just 651 runs last year, which was the fifth-worst tally in MLB this past season. Keeping Perez around as a source of pop from behind the plate was a no-brainer, and the Royals did it at such a bargain price as well. Salvador Perez is a Royals legend through and through William Purnell-Imagn Images Loyalty to a single team seems asinine in today’s professional sports landscape. But every now and then, there emerges a perfect marriage between club and player. For Perez and the Royals, this most certainly is the case. Perez has been a fixture for the Royals since 2012, providing valuable leadership on and off the field. He was a huge member of their 2015 World Series-winning squad, and he’s been durable to boot, playing in at least 129 games in every season since 2013 (except for the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season). He might be 35 years of age already, but make no mistake about it, what he does for the Royals is indispensable.
