The Kansas City Royals and right-hander Seth Lugo are in agreement on a multi-year extension, a league source confirmed on Sunday to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. When official, the move will take off the board one of the trade deadline’s most desirable potential targets.
Lugo, who signed a two-year deal with the Royals ahead of the 2024 season, with a $15 million player option for 2026, was primed to not only be one of the most prominent names thought to be available leading into Thursday’s dealdine, but also potentially a top target over the winter free agency period. Instead, the extension will help him stick in Kansas City, where he’s posted a 2.95 ERA over 19 starts this season.
“We’re a much better team with Seth Lugo here than not here,” Royals president J.J. Picollo said over the weekend. “Whether that’s just ’25 or ’26, if you move a guy like Seth Lugo, you better be really sure that you’re getting something back that makes this team significantly better. You take a guy like that out of your rotation, you’re not the same team.”
When made official, Lugo’s deal is expected to total around $46 million over two years, with a vesting option, according to the New York Post.
Lugo made his first All-Star team at 34 years old, finished second in the American League Cy Young Award voting last year and anchored a rotation that paved the way for Kansas City’s first playoff appearance since the club’s World Series-winning season of 2015.
He posted a 3.00 ERA across 206 2/3 innings, and he made a pair of solid starts in October.
During that same discussion with reporters, Picollo hinted at a potential extension for Lugo.
“He knows what’s going on,” Picollo said. “I don’t want to comment about extensions, but he knows our desire to have him in a Royals uniform, obviously, not just talking about his current contract.
“He knows our desires. But that’s something that we internally have talked about, and I think it makes a lot of sense for us. When you sign guys to extensions, there’s one thing that has to be prevalent. They need to want to be here, and they need to want to be a part of this. I feel pretty confident that Seth does, but we’ll just see where that takes us.”
As for the Royals, they won 86 games last season, blitzed past Baltimore in the Wild Card round and offered the New York Yankees a fight in the ALDS. They haven’t recaptured that magic, though. Their rotation remains a strength, as the emergence of Kris Bubic and Noah Cameron have compensated for Cole Ragans’ injury-riddled campaign. Keeping Lugo long-term helps ensure it continues to be a strength, even as the 52-54 Royals flounder between contention, having just put Bubic on the IL. That came a day after Jac Caglianone landed on the IL as well.
Prior to the move, Lugo ranked No. 7 on The Athletic’s trade deadline Big Board.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)