The Kansas City Royals have some big choices to make when it comes to the future of their captain.
Catcher Salvador Perez technically finished up the guaranteed portion of his four-year extension this year, but he has an extremely club-friendly $13.5 million team option for next season.
While the decision might be as simple as picking up that option, the Royals have a lot of factors to consider — how long they want Perez to stay around, whether the option might make him think they want him gone in a year’s time, and how to handle the transition to the new generation of catchers coming up through the system.
Regardless of all those loose ends, Royals general manager J.J. Picollo wanted one thing to be clear coming out of his season-end media availability on Tuesday. When opening day comes around, Picollo expects Perez to still be wearing the “C” on his chest.
“I think it’s safe to say that one way or another, Salvy will be in a Royals uniform in ‘26,” Picollo said,per Jaylon Thompson of The Kansas City Star. “What we do beyond that is still to be determined. But there are some things that we still need to work through and talk about.”
Perez, 35, still had a productive season despite some of his rate stats coming down a bit from the prior year. He slashed .236/.284/.446, with exactly 30 home runs, 100 RBI, and a league-average 100 OPS+.
If he hits 15 home runs for the Royals next year, Perez will surpass Hall of Famer George Brett as the franchise’s all-time leader. That alone is more than enough reason to keep the relationship intact.
However, with rookie catcher Carter Jensen looking ready for the bright lights and top prospect Blake Mitchell not far behind, it’s also easy to envision the Royals transitioning Perez out of the bulk role he’s played for the last couple of seasons, perhaps taking on even more starts at first base and designated hitter than he already does.
Perez should be a Royal for at least one more year, that we know. But the things we don’t know will ultimately represent the most important decisions for Picollo and his staff.
More MLB: Royals Fan-Favorite Has Message For Kansas City After Disappointing Season
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
