Closer Carlos Estévez and the Kansas City Royals are in agreement on a two-year, $22 million contract with a club option, sources told ESPN, adding a veteran reliever to a Royals team hoping to continue its run of success after a surprise postseason appearance last year.
The deal will pay Estévez $10 million in each of the first two years, with the club option worth $13 million and a $2 million buyout.
Estévez, 32, has spent the past two seasons as a closer — first for the Los Angeles Angels and then, following a July trade, the Philadelphia Phillies — with a high-octane fastball and a swing-and-miss slider and changeup. While his strikeout rate dipped last year, his walks came down significantly as well and unleashed the best version of him.
With a weak bullpen in the first half last season, Kansas City upgraded at the trade deadline by acquiring right-hander Lucas Erceg — who became a dominant closer down the stretch — and right-hander Hunter Harvey, who missed the postseason with injuries. Estévez’s presence alongside Erceg gives Kansas City a potent 1-2 punch in the late innings to complement one of the American League’s best rotations.
Coming off a 106-loss season, the Royals improved by 30 games and beat the Baltimore Orioles in the wild card round before losing to the eventual American League champion New York Yankees. Kansas City re-signed starter Michael Wacha and traded for second baseman Jonathan India early in the winter, then re-signed right-hander Michael Lorenzen.
Estévez enriches a bullpen that had includes right-handers Erceg, Harvey and John Schreiber and a panoply of left-handers: Angel Zerpa, Sam Long, Daniel Lynch and potentially Kris Bubic, who is expected to compete with Lorenzen and right-hander Kyle Wright for Kansas City’s fifth-starter job.
After spending six seasons in Colorado, Estévez signed a two-year, $13.5 million deal with the Angels and ascended into the closer role. Since signing with Los Angeles, he has saved 57 games and struck out 128 while walking 43 in 117.1 innings with a 3.22 ERA.