The narrative around the Kansas City Royals for many years has become a lack of spending. The Royals, despite inflation and added revenue sharing “were cheap” and “could spend but chose instead not to.” News on Friday continues to conflict with that narrative as do many other storylines since owner John Sherman purchased the franchise in November 2019. The Friday news involved a new contract for Royals ace Cole Ragans. Kansas City did not need to give a pay raise to their young arm already under contract until 2028. They did instead, opting to reward Ragans for a fantastic 2024 season. The raise comes just an offseason after the club set a franchise record, inking shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to a $288 million contract extension.
That extension came before Witt’s ascension to true superstar status — something he achieved in 2024 after signing his deal. Before that extension in February 2024, the Kansas City front office had spent $110 million on free agents, good for seventh in MLB. Nearly $400 million spent in a single offseason is nothing to scoff at regardless of the franchise spending the money. The result was money well spent, coming together in the team’s surprise playoff run. It was the first for Kansas City in nearly a decade, reigniting fan engagement and belief in the club’s immediate future.
The 2025 offseason wasn’t nearly as extensive as 2024’s $400 million price tag, but not for trying. The Royals offered outfielders Anthony Santander and Jurickson Profar three-year contracts. The offer for Santander was worth up to $66 million before he ultimately signed with Toronto instead. Kansas City went on to sign reliever Carlos Estévez to a two-year deal and some rumors indicate held some interest in acquiring third baseman Nolan Arenado as well.
In all, the team’s Opening Day Payroll is at an estimated $120 million, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That’s up $5 million from 2024 and up nearly $30 million from 2023. Since 2000, the Royals have surpassed a $100 million opening day payroll just six times. Two of those six instances have now come in the relatively short Sherman ownership era. Even early into his ownership tenure, Sherman showed a willingness to spend.
In 2020, the organization decided to pay Minor League players for the full season.
“Moore confirmed that his conversations with owner John Sherman, who took over ownership from David Glass last fall, were entirely about preserving what Moore has often referred to as the ‘Royal Way’ — doing what is right for the Royals and their employees.
‘The Minor League players,’ Moore said, ‘the players you never know about, the players that never get out of Rookie ball, those players have as much to do about the growth of the game than as any 10-year or 15-year veteran players.’
Moore also confirmed several reports, including from MLB.com, that the Royals will not engage in layoffs or furloughs through the rest of the 2020 pandemic. While some of the high-salaried employees with Kansas City will take some pay cuts, those cuts will be restored once baseball’s revenue reaches normal levels again.”
The full story has become new ownership willing to invest in the franchise consistently, if within reason. They haven’t spent funds with abandon, but certainly have done so well. After all, who wouldn’t spend up for a Superstar like Bobby Witt Jr.? The John Sherman Royals have done the obvious things that past Royals front offices didn’t always do well. They’ve also started to do many of the difficult things that previous Royals’ regimes simply never did. Fans of MLB teams need to hold team ownership accountable. What they shouldn’t do is let that accountability cloud reality. The reality is that owner John Sherman and the current Royals front office have invested well in the current roster even if they don’t spend exorbitantly like the Dodgers and Mets.
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