Yankees Likely Landing Spot For Royals' $288.8 Million Superstar After Opt-Out

Kansas City has six more seasons with their young megastar, but then what?

Jun 22, 2018; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; A general view of New York Yankees hat and glove laying in the dugout at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images | Kim Klement-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees are no longer Major League Baseball’s most dominant free agent destination.

That’s a title the Yankees certainly owned at the turn of the millenium and beyond, but nowadays, the Los Angeles Dodgers fit the description.

One could argue that the New York Mets have also usurped the Yankees as a premier free agent attraction after poaching away Juan Soto.

And while the Mets and Dodgers may dominate the rest of the decade with their growing collection of talent and recent penchant for big-spending, the Yankees still have a colossal payroll ceiling and always will.

By the start of the 2030s, the Bronx Bombers might swing the pendulum back in their direction by going after one of the game’s greatest talents: Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Witt Jr., 24, is under team control for the next six seasons, but he has an opt-out in 2031, a path he’ll more than likely take given the fact that his $36.1 million yearly salary at that point will represent a gross underpay. Compare that figure with Soto’s current AAV ($61.9 million).

Witt Jr. is one of the game’s five best players and should be compensated as such. By 2031, there’s no reason to believe that Witt Jr. won’t still be a top-five asset, barring injury, which means it will be essential for him to opt out of his current deal and re-negotiate a much larger one.

Will the Royals be interested in re-working a contract to keep Witt Jr. in-house? Of course. But a team like the Yankees will likely bring out the Brinks truck for Witt Jr., especially as New York has been starved for a superstar shortstop since the days of Derek Jeter.

If the Royals can build a consistent winner around Witt Jr. for the next few seasons, he’ll be more interested in staying past 2031. But Kansas City fans should appreciate every game that Witt Jr. plays in a Royals uniform, because there will come a time when he has suitors like the Yankees knocking down his door with offers that are impossible to refuse.

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