Jan

Rick Ankiel agrees to a 1 year $3.25 million contract with Royals

By Allan

Update 1/25 16:28: According to Bob Dutton, the Royals have designed Mario Lisson for assignment in order to make room for Ankie.

Update 1/25 09:35: According to Dick Kaegel of MLB.com, the deal between Ankiel and the Royals is now official. The deal is for $2.75 million for 2010 and the guaranteed figure inflates to $3.25 million with a $500,000 buyout on the mutual option. The mutual option for 2011 is for $6 million.

Update 23:10: Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated Tweets: ankiel gets $3.25 mil from #royals, plus 500 grand in bonuses and $6 mil mutual option for 2011

1/21: According to Tim Brown of Yahoo, Rick Ankiel has agreed to a one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals for $3.25 million guaranteed. The second year is a mutual option worth $6 million.

Ankiel’s numbers went down between 2009 and 2008. In 2009 Ankiel he hit 11 home runs, drove in 38 RBIs and hit .231. In 2008, Ankiel hit 25 home runs, drove in 71 RBIs and hit .264. Ankie almost the same number of games each (120 games in 2008 versus 122 games in 2009).

Ankiel and his agent Scott Boras had been looking for teams where Ankiel can be an everyday player. He drew interest from the Pirates and Yankees this winter.

You can see Ankiel’s contract history and statistics here.