Reggie Sanders Agrees
Ken Rosenthal's report was correct. Reggie Sanders confirmed to Jeff Passan of the Kansas City Star that he has agreed to a two-year, $10 million contract with the Royals, and that he expects to sign the deal today.
In the same article, this bit of news is kind of interesting:
The Royals have offered right-handed starter Joe Mays a major-league contract and view him as a potential fifth starter.
"We do have interest in him," Baird said.
Mays’ best season was in 2001, when he went 17-13 with a 3.16 ERA. Last year, he went 6-10 with a 5.65 ERA with the Twins.
Given the insignificance of the fifth starter on a non-playoff team, I guess I shouldn't complain too much about this. However, I don't have the slightest clue why the Royals would want to give Mays a guaranteed contract, especially when he's been nothing short of awful the past couple of seasons for Minnesota. Oh, and his trend indicators aren't all that good either. Never one to miss many bats in the first place, Mays only struck out 3.40 batters per nine innings pitched last year, a career low for the 30-year-old.
If all the Royals want out of the back of their rotation is another sacrificial lamb like Jose Lima, they could find him on the minor-league free-agent market. Giving a contract to Mays is short-sighted and doomed to fail before the ink dries.