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Royals agree with quartet; Gordon unsigned

Sanchez, Maier among four inking one-year deals for 2012
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com | 01/17/12 5:12 PM EST
KANSAS CITY -- The Royals made it a clean sweep of the three pitchers eligible for salary arbitration, reaching agreements on Tuesday with right-handers Luke Hochevar and Felipe Paulino and left-hander Jonathan Sanchez.

According to Major League sources, Sanchez got the biggest of the one-year contracts at $5.6 million, with a chance for $200,000 additional in performance bonuses. Obtained in a trade for center fielder Melky Cabrera, Sanchez made $4.8 million last year for the San Francisco Giants.

Hochevar's deal was for $3.51 million, up from the $1.76 million he earned last year. Paulino got $1.9 million after receiving $790,000 in 2011.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Royals also reached an agreement with outfielder Mitch Maier for $865,000, up from $459,000 last season.

That left only outfielder Alex Gordon unsigned of the seven arbitration-eligible Royals because catcher Brayan Pena and infielder Chris Getz reached deals on Monday. There has been speculation that Gordon and the Royals have been discussing a multi-year contract.

"We have him under control for the next two years and you'd certainly love to have all your players under long-term contracts," general manager Dayton Moore said. "It's something that's certainly a goal and something that you strive for. It's a matter of coming to a conclusion and an agreement where everybody is satisfied. It's as simple as that."

The agreements were completed before the noon CT deadline for clubs and players to exchange their salary figures for arbitration purposes.

Hochevar and Sanchez are expected to be key elements of the Royals' rotation next season, and Paulino is given a good chance of being among the five starters as well.

A strong finish -- he was 6-3 with a 3.52 ERA in his last 12 starts -- enabled Hochevar to have an 11-11 record and lower his ERA to 4.68. Since making him the nation's top choice in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, the Royals have been waiting for Hochevar to become a dominating leader of the rotation. Last season, he was able to establish career highs not only in wins but starts (31), innings (198) and strikeouts (128).

"Starting from the All-Star break on, that was where I want to be," Hochevar said from Knoxville, Tenn. "Obviously, I want it to get even better than that, but I just think everything came together there at the end and started clicking for me. It makes it a lot funner when you're pitching deep in games and ultimately winning ballgames."

Hochevar, 28, pitched at least seven innings in 14 of his starts and at one point in April he retired 31 straight batters. He made his first Opening Day start last year and lost to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who also provide the competition for Opening Day this year, on April 6 at Angel Stadium.

He declared that he's feeling better in his workouts this offseason than ever before.

"I think maybe one thing that has helped my body feel a little better is the last couple of years I've incorporated swimming into my workouts," he said. "I think that's helped me quite a bit, rather than the pounding of running and jarring your body. And I think it's been good for my arm as well."

Sanchez, 29, missed the last month and a half of 2011 with an ankle sprain and his final record for the Giants was 4-7 with a 4.26 ERA in 19 starts. The Royals were more interested in his 2010 performance, when he was 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA and 205 strikeouts as he helped the Giants win the World Series.

"All of our assessments this winter have been very positive concerning his health and his consistency of work has been very good," Moore said. "Our medical people have had a chance to visit with him in person and are satisfied that his offseason program has been very good and consistent, so we expect him to be ready Day 1."

While Sanchez has piled up 736 strikeouts in 708 innings in his career, the Royals want him to cut down on his tendency toward high walk totals, amounting to 376 in six years.

Paulino, 28, was pitching in relief when the Royals obtained him for cash from the Colorado Rockies last May 26. Moved back into a starting role, he was 4-6 with a 4.11 ERA in 21 games for the Royals.

Included in his victories was an 11-strikeout, no-walk outing against the Seattle Mariners. During the offseason, he made a tour of Taiwan with the MLB All-Stars.

"He's got a lot of power to his approach, a high strikeout guy and a strong, durable pitcher. We like the way he competed," Moore said.

Maier was a reliable fourth outfielder for the Royals in 2011 but had difficulty getting playing time because regulars Gordon, Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur were having outstanding seasons. He was in just 45 games, batting .232 with three triples and four doubles among his 22 hits.

Although Cabrera was traded to the Giants for Sanchez, Maier appears headed for a backup role again with Lorenzo Cain penciled in as the new center fielder. Maier, though, is expected to compete for the job along with Jarrod Dyson.

Maier is in his 10th year with the Royals' organization, the longest tenure of anyone on the Major League roster, and first joined the Kansas City club on Sept. 20, 2006, when he was called up from Double-A Wichita. In five years in the Majors, he has a .253 average in 327 games.

A highlight of last season was his turn as a pitcher on July 26 in a 13-9 loss at Boston. He pitched a scoreless inning, working around a one-out double by David Ortiz and was the only Royals pitcher not charged with a run in the game.

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.