Royals, White Sox, A's now have one infamous thing in common
The Pittsburgh Pirates' signing of All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds to an eight-year $106M contract extension on Tuesday not only keeps an important player, it also removes them from a rather depressing list as far as Major League Baseball teams are concerned.
Prior to that signing the Pirates were one of four teams that had never signed a player — either in free agency or their own re-signing — to a contract worth more than $100M.
Now that the Pirates are off that list, the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and Oakland A's are the only three teams in baseball to have never given out a nine-digit contract to any player.
Prior to signing Reynolds, the largest contract the Pirates had ever handed out was an eight-year, $70M contract extension to current starting third basemen Ke'Bryan Hayes.
As for the other three teams on the list.
Oakland's largest contract was a six-year, $66M contract for former third basemen Eric Chavez that was signed all the way back in 2004!
Kansas City's largest contract was a four-year, $82M contract signed by Salvador Perez in March, 2021.
The White Sox largest contract was signed this past winter when they signed outfielder Andrew Benintendi to a five-year, $75M contract in free agency.
It is absolutely staggering that in 19 years the A's have not signed somebody for more than $66M, especially since that is dramatically lower than every other team's highest contract.
At least the Royals and White Sox (and Pirates) have at least recently inched closer to the $100M mark. But to still be that far away, and to probably not be anywhere near signing any player for that amount of money, is a horrible look for that team's ownership group.
It is also a pretty big look for the White Sox, a major market team, to be grouped in with these smaller market clubs. Sometimes the key to winning is just trying and making an effort. They are not even doing that.
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