Royals restructure and extend Salvador Perez's contract

The Kansas City Royals restructured catcher Salvador Perez's contract, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported Tuesday. 

Perez's new deal will begin in 2017 and run through the 2021 season, making it a five-year contract. He will earn a total of $52.5 million or an average of $10.5 million annually. 

A new deal had reportedly been in the works for some time now, as the Royals realized that they had one of the game's best receivers on an extremely team-friendly deal. It was so team friendly, many around the game looked at it as almost unfair. 

Kansas City had signed Perez to a five-year, $7 million contract extension during the 2012-2013 offseason, when he had just over 100 games of Major League experience. 

The deal included team options for 2017, 2018, and 2019 for $3.8 million, $5 million, and $6 million, respectively. 

In 2016, Perez will be in the final year of his old deal. He will make $2 million this season. 

Once the extension kicks in, Perez will earn $3 million in 2017, $7.5 million in 2018, $10 million in 2019, and $13 million annually from 2020 to 2021.

The Royals were able to guarantee themselves two more seasons of team control over Perez, but do so by paying him $5.7 million more during seasons they already held control over in the old deal.

Basically, the team and player ripped an old agreement to shreds and decided to start over. 

The reason the Royals decided to make this deal was because of Perez's value to the club. He has been an instrumental part of Kansas City's success in recent seasons. 

A Royal for his entire career, Perez has been named to the American League All-Star team in each of the past three years, and he was named the 2015 World Series MVP in the Royals' win. 

Last season, Perez hit .260/.280/.426 with 21 home runs and 70 RBIs in 553 plate appearances. According to FanGraphs, he was worth 1.6 Wins Above Replacement. 

​--Devan Fink

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