Royals sign Michael Wacha to a three-year contract

The Royals announced this afternoon that they have signed the right-hander Michael Wacha a three-year contract with a club option for the 2028 season. According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the deal guarantees Wacha $51 million and can reach a maximum of $72 million if the option is exercised, while Passan further notes that the 2028 option is from $14 million rises to $18 million if Wacha achieves “easy-to-achieve” incentives during the 2027 campaign comes with a $1 million buyout. MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported the full contract breakdown, noting that Wacha will make $18 million in 2025 and 2026 before receiving a base salary of $14 million, which will increase to $18 million due to incentives US dollar can rise.

Wacha had a $16 million player option for the 2025 season that he would likely decline, but this new contract overrides that contract and will keep him in Kansas City for the foreseeable future. The 33-year-old started with the Cardinals after being selected in the first round of the 2012 draft, but played little more than a back-end starter in seven seasons with St. Louis. After posting below-average numbers with the Rays and Mets in his first forays into free agency, Wacha turned things around by signing a one-year deal with the Red Sox ahead of the 2022 season.

Upon his arrival in Boston, the right-hander managed to turn things around. In 23 starts for the club, he posted an outstanding 3.32 ERA in 127 1/3 innings. Wacha has maintained that level of performance into his early 30s, with a 3.30 ERA in 76 starts over the last three years with the Red Sox, Padres and Royals. That 128 ERA+ is already a top-notch center rotation performer that most clubs would be happy to add to their starting lineup, but Wacha's overall numbers looked even better with Kansas City than in his previous two successful seasons.

Wacha largely maintained a more or less identical strikeout rate (21.2%) to the 21.3% he posted from 2022 to 2023, and his walk rate went slightly from 6.9% to 6.6% back. Much more important than that, however, is Wacha's improved ability to suppress hard contact. The right-hander's hard-hit rate of 32.2% was the lowest Wacha had recorded since 2017, while his barrel rate also improved slightly compared to 2022-23. Overall, Wacha's contact numbers were among the best of his career, including the lowest line drive rate he has ever recorded in a full season, as well as improved groundball and infield flyball rates compared to his 2022-23 seasons. Overall, this improved batted ball data gave the right-hander not only a strong 3.35 ERA, but also a 3.65 FIP, which was his best in seven years.

Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, the move to keep Wacha on the roster solidifies the club's rotation at the start of next season, remaining in the front three Seth Lugo, Cole Ragansand Wacha together during Brady Singer, Alec MarshAnd Kyle Wright are among the club's options for its final two starting positions. With their starting pitching solidified, the Royals will now certainly look to improve an offense that has generally struggled to produce outside of the superstar shortstop in 2024 Bobby Witt Jr. The Royals, in particular, expect to look for improvements to their outfield mix after a season in which the club ranked in the bottom three in baseball with a 79 wRC+ in the outfield, ahead of only the White Sox and Pirates.

While Wacha's fresh contract in Kansas City takes a quality mid-rotation arm off the market, a number of interesting pitchers remain available this winter. Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Blake SnellAnd Jack Flaherty Stand at the top of the market with mid-rotation options like Nathan Eovaldi, Sean ManaeaAnd Luis Severino Among the players still available at a similar level to Wacha to the many clubs looking for rotation upgrades this offseason.