DeJesus Signs 5-Year Deal

[KCGHOST]

The Royals, led by the Bag of Hammers, announced the signing of David DeJesus to a 5-year deal with a club option for a 6th year. DeJesus will get $13.5M over the five year period of the contract. The five years exactly covers DeJesus non-free agent career. The option year would be his first year of free agent eligibility.

I like DeJesus, but I don't see him becoming big star, so I don't know why the rush to lock him up for the next five years. You had those anyway. The only thing you are avoiding is going to arbitration. No small thing that, but you are betting that he will stay healthy (a problem) and productive.

[Cironnu]

I have to disagree. This is EXACTLY the sort of deal the Royals should be making with their good young players. It's a relatively low cost deal, averaging only 2.7 million a year, so unless he just completely falls apart due to injury or fading skills, he'll be earning what he's making, just as a solid allaround outfielder and leadoff type hitter. If his game improves, it's a steal. This contract completely eliminates all problems with arbitration, a very good thing, IMHO. This contract doesn't have any darned no trade clauses (at least that we know of right now), so trading him at some point would be easy.

The Royals are never going to have enough money to keep our superstars, but we MIGHT be able to sign a handful of good-not-great players like DeJesus to give us some continuity.

[KCGHOST]

The life of the contract is merely the years prior to free agency. So what?? You have him anyway. DJ missed 40 games last year and has yet to show he can stand up to the rigors of a full campaign.

Try to remember the Berroa contract when the Bag of Hammers just had to wrap him up long before free agency was to arrived. Berroa immediately went right into the dumper. Now his contract is an albatross.

I agree the idea is correct, it's the timing I question. It woulddn't have hurt to wait another year to see if DDJ is the real thing or just another injury prone guy who can't stay on the field.

[lautrec]

I like this signing. It's pretty easy to get on the Baird "Hater Wagon", and believe me, Baird's gotta go, but this was a good sigining.

We KNOW that DeJesus is here for 5 years - it shows the player that he's important in the club's future. I think that this deal is more about confidence in the player, and telling him we want to keep him, than just money.