Reports: Royals, Salvador Perez working on new contract

The Kansas City Royals are working on a new contract with catcher Salvador Perez, Jon Heyman of MLB Network and Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reported. 

Perez, 25, is signed to an extremely team-friendly contract. 

Signed in February of 2012, Perez was guaranteed $7 million over five seasons. When he signed the deal, Perez had just 39 games of Major League experience. This made the contract a possible risk for the Royals if Perez did not pan out. 

In reality, Kansas City has reaped the benefits of locking Perez up early. 

Perez has hit .279/.306/.431 with 65 home runs and 279 RBIs in parts of five seasons with the club, amassing 11.9 FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement. He led the team to the 2015 World Series title, hitting for a .845 OPS in 64 plate appearances. 

Next season, Perez is scheduled to make $2 million. Then, he has team options for 2017 ($3.75 million), 2018 ($5 million), and 2019 ($6 million). If Perez does want to make more money in a new contract, it is possible he will have to give up free agent seasons, or years after his current contract has expired.
 
When Flanagan asked about the new contract, Perez was blunt. 

"I don't care. I'll just play hard and keep my concentration and help my teammates. [And] try to get back to the World Series," he said.

--Devan Fink

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