According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo, the Kansas City Royals and Lorenzo Cain are nearing a two-year extension that will buy out his final arbitration years. The deal is reportedly worth $17.5 million.
Source: Lorenzo Cain and the Royals are nearing an agreement on a two-year deal for $17.5 million.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 15, 2016
Cain, 29, is coming off a career year posting a 6.6 fWAR in 140 games played. He slashed .307/.361/.477 with a 129 wRC+ and an 89 wRC+ in the postseason. Cain has always had superb defensive and baserunning abilities but only slashed .266./.318/.380 before 2014 in 225 games.
Steamer projects Cain to slash .283/.334/.417 with a 104 wRC+ and 3.4 fWAR in 2015. His BABIP in 2014 was .380 and .347 in 2014, but projects to drop off to .333 next season.
During the arbitration process, Cain requested $7.85 million and the Royals countered with $5 million, but this extension will have an average annual value of around $8.75 million. He will hit free agency at age 31 in 2018.
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