After letting veteran DH Billy Butler leave to costless agency the Kansas City Royals have signed Kendrys Morales to a 2 year $17 million deal. After what can only be called a disastrous costless agency last year for Morales its not shocking to see him take a deal that offers him a chance to play early. The deal would give Morales $8.5 million per year and gives the Royals a chance to trade him if the team feels it’s to its advantage.
Morales has had a fairly consistent career until 2014 where in half a season he stumbled out the gate and never stopped stumbling. His .218/.274/.338 slash line is really below his career numbers and the only saving grace to them is the fact it was less than half a season of work. Even so Morales was able to get 367 plate appearances and showed no power having an ISO of .120 and only 8 homeruns.
There are some good signs for Morales and the Royals going into next season. Morales was making good contact having his highest contact rate since 2010 and didn’t swing anymore than normal. His line drive rate dropped only by 1% and his fly ball rate stayed very consistent to his career norms. The best sign for a comeback season for Morales is the fact his BABIP dropped from his career .297 to .244 in 2014 and that is quite the drop. Given the fact that his K% is in line with career numbers along with his BB% and he’s not swinging at pitches he shouldn’t there’s some strong evidence that 2014 was just a bad year for him.
