Royals sign Alex Gordon

One of the three corner outfielders finally found a home as Alex Gordon decided to stay with the Kansas City Royals. The agreement is a four year deal worth $72 million dollars, pending a physical. Rumored that most of the money is deferred and back-loaded to give the Royals some financial flexibility if they desire to add more to the roster.

Kansas City gets their left fielder back who has saved 94 runs defensively since 2011, trailing only Jason Heyward (107 DRS). Gordon only appeared in 104 games in 2015 due to dealing with a groin strain.  During the regular season he hit .271/.377/.432 with a 122 wRC+ and was worth 2.8 wins according to both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. In the postseason, Gordon hit .240 (13 for 54) and provided one of the more dramatic home runs, tying Game 1 with a shot in the bottom of the ninth off New York Mets closer, Jeurys Familia.

What the Chicago White Sox lose with this signing depends on what you believe from the offseason rumors. They either lost their Plan A which was hoping to sign Gordon who could provide immediate help defensively in left field and gets on-base at a high clip. Or, they lost Plan B by acquiring Gordon in the case they could not sign Yoenis Cespedes or Justin Upton.

Shortly after the news of Gordon returning to Kansas City, this is what Fox Sports, Ken Rosenthal, is reporting:

Sources: #WhiteSox would not go 4 years on Gordon, as @BNightengale said. Will they adjust on Cespedes? Gordon 32 this season, Cespedes 30.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 6, 2016

If Rick Hahn remains stubborn and not willing to budge on the amount of years, might be more realistic that targets such as Dexter Fowler and Gerardo Parra would be acquired by the Sox, than Cespedes or Upton. With Gordon finally signing, let's hope he is the domino that gets the market moving again.