Lucas Duda‬, ‪Kansas City Royals‬, ‪Eric Hosmer‬, ‪New York Mets‬, ‪Tampa Bay Rays‬‬ Feb 28, 2018 - Now

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Lucas Duda‬, ‪Kansas City Royals‬, ‪Eric Hosmer‬, ‪New York Mets‬, ‪Tampa Bay Rays‬‬ Feb 28, 2018 - Now

Murray | Royals sign Lucas Duda


The Kansas City Royals have their first baseman for Year 1 of the post-Eric Hosmer era.Free-agent first baseman Lucas Duda has found a home. Sources tells FanRag Sports that Duda has agreed to a deal with the Kansas City Royals, pending a physical.

On Wednesday, the Royals signed free agent slugger Lucas Duda. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports the one-year deal is worth $3.5 million with another $1.5 million in incentives. The team announced the signing but not the contract terms.

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The move to land Duda comes after the Royals watched one of their cornerstones in first baseman Eric Hosmer test the market, and he wound up on an eight-year deal with the San Diego Padres after previously spending his entire career with the Royals

Duda, 32, hit .217/.322/.496 (116 OPS+) with 30 home runs in 127 games split between the New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays last season. Elbow and back trouble limited to Duda to 174 of 324 possible games the last two years.

A California native, Duda played his college ball at USC before being scooped up in the seventh round of the 2007 cycle by the Mets.

With Duda now on board, manager Ned Yost figures to run out a lineup that looks something like this:
  1. 2B Whit Merrifield
  2. RF Jorge Bonifacio
  3. 1B Lucas Duda
  4. C Salvador Perez
  5. LF Alex Gordon
  6. DH Jorge Soler
  7. 3B Cheslor Cuthbert
  8. CF Paulo Orlando
  9. SS Alcides Escobar
Gordon has played some center field this spring, and if he can handle the position regularly, that would allow Soler to play some outfield and free up the a lineup spot for prospect Hunter Dozier, who was slated to start at first base before the Duda signing.

The Royals of course lost Hosmer to free agency this offseason, along with Lorenzo Cain and likely Mike Moustakas as well. The free agent defections have pushed the club into a rebuild, and it could be a long road. The MLB roster isn't very good and Baseball America recent ranked Kansas City's farm system as 29th in baseball.

 

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