Jeremy Guthrie agrees to three year $25 million contract with Kansas City Royals – MLB News
Kansas City Royals have signed starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie to a three year $25 million Major League Baseball contract, reports ESPN.com. The club made the official announcement on Tuesday evening but did not disclose the terms of the contract. A Major
League source also confirmed the news.
Guthrie, who was acquired from the Colorado Rockies on July 20 in a trade involving pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, had an excellent time on the mound last season as he went 5-3 with a decent 3.16 ERA in 14 starts. The Royals finished 10-4 in his 14 starts, including
10-1 in his final 11 starts.
Personally, he ended the season on a career best five game winning streak. In his last 11 starts, he went 4-0 with an exceptional 2.17 ERA (seventh best ERA in baseball and third best in American League from August 8 to the end of the season).
Guthrie produced magical performances at Kauffman Stadium going 4-2 with a 2.40 ERA at Royals’ home ballpark. In addition to being an excellent pitcher, he is reliable and durable.
He was only 18.1 innings short of posting his fourth consecutive 200 plus innings season. He is averaging 198 innings over his last five seasons. Before moving to Kansas City, Guthrie started for Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles and Colorado Rockies
in 210 career appearances and 183 starts.
"The way I pitched in Kansas City was much more indicative of how I've pitched over the course of my career," said Guthrie, who is 55-77 with a 4.28 ERA over parts of nine seasons.
"I believe in myself," he further added. "I made a couple of minor adjustments. I don't think I changed everything. Obviously that's where it starts, and after that, it was just getting that confidence and getting people out and believing I could do it again
after struggling so bad."
The right hander will be making $5 million in 2013, $11 million in 2014 and $9 million in 2015. It will be interesting to see if Guthrie can continue the good work in the next season to cement his place on Kansas City’s big league roster.
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