Royals 27-Year-Old All-Star Could Receive Lucrative Contract Extension, Per Insider
Extensions will always be a talking point of spring training, and the Kansas City Royals have a noteworthy candidate on their hands.
After making the American League All-Star team in 2024, 27-year-old left-hander Cole Ragans has firmly established himself as the future ace of the Royals rotation. Paired with Seth Lugo, he forms one of the most formidable one-two punches in the sport, one of Kansas City's greatest strengths.
Almost any young player who excels with the team he broke in with hopes to be rewarded with a long-term contract to stay with that team. Will the Royals reward Ragans, who is under team control for four more years as of now, with a lucrative deal to stick around even longer?
On Thursday, MLB.com insider Mark Feinsand listed Ragans as one of 16 top extension candidates for the 2025 Major League Baseball season.
"The Royals acquired Ragans from the Rangers for Aroldis Chapman in the summer of 2023, and the young lefty rewarded Kansas City with a 5-2 record and 2.64 ERA in 12 starts during the second half," Feinsand wrote. "Ragans backed that up in 2024 with his first All-Star selection and a fourth-place finish in the AL Cy Young Award vote, proving his K.C. debut was no fluke."
"Ragans will be arbitration-eligible for the first time next offseason, so there’s no urgency to get an extension done. But after giving their best player (Bobby Witt Jr.) an extension last year, could the Royals do the same with their best pitcher?"
It's frankly not an easy decision. Ragans is undoubtedly worth a lot more now than his $800,000 pre-arb salary. But the first extra season of control the Royals would have after Ragans' current deal runs out would be his age-31 season, and there's no telling how his stuff might age in the next four years.
Plus, Ragans has had Tommy John surgery twice already. There's always going to be injury risk for hard-throwing starting pitchers, and Ragans might carry a bit more risk than most.
Realistically, it probably wouldn't be smart business for the Royals to extend Ragans yet. It's a topic that can be revisited if he continues to improve and shows signs of long-term durability. But that's a sign of how cruel baseball contracts can be, because right now, the lefty is criminally underpaid.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org