Seth Lugo finalizes 2-year extension with Royals: 'Fell in love with the city'

KANSAS CITY -- Trade Seth Lugo? How about extending him?

The Royals on Monday finalized a two-year contract extension with Lugo, committing to the right-handed veteran starter until at least 2027 and ending any talk of Lugo leaving Kansas City this summer or the offseason.

Lugo’s extension is worth a guaranteed $46 million, a source told MLB.com, and will begin in 2026, with a vesting option (which becomes guaranteed if he reaches a certain performance incentive threshold) for '28.

Lugo, 35, will make $20 million each in 2026 and ‘27, according to a source, with the vesting option worth another $20 million or a $17 million club option (with a $3 million buyout). Lugo also receives a $3 million signing bonus. The vesting option is innings-based, with Lugo needing to throw 335 innings combined in '26 and '27 or 190 innings in '27 to lock in the third year. If Lugo vests that option and the contract is maxed out, it would be for three years and $63 million.

While speaking before Monday’s series opener against the Braves at Kauffman Stadium, general manager J.J. Picollo thanked several people involved with getting this rare, in-season extension done, but most of all Lugo and his family, as well as Royals CEO/chairman John Sherman, who has invested significant money into the club’s roster lately with contracts and extensions like Lugo’s, Bobby Witt Jr.’s, Michael Wacha’s and more.

“Without that type of support, you can’t do things like this, and without somebody who wants to be in our uniform, you can’t do things like this,” Picollo said.

And it was very clear that Lugo wanted to be in Kansas City.

“After being here for a year and a half, me and my family just fell in love with the city,” Lugo said, with his wife, Amanda, sitting in the front row of the press conference and the two Lugo boys, 5-year-old James and 3-year-old Myles, trying their very best to remain attentive for their dad’s big day.

Lugo continued: “Kansas City is such a pretty place, and it’s treated us so well. As far as on the field, me and the other pitchers and the entire pitching department, we really feel like we’re onto something really special. From the coaching staff, but more specifically, the pitching department -- it’s something that we’re building. And it’s something I want to be a part of.”

Lugo is in the final year of a two-year, $30 million contract he signed with the Royals before the 2024 season. He held a $15 million player option for ‘26, but it was likely to be declined based on his performance with a 2.95 ERA this season across 113 innings.

But Lugo’s comfortability with the organization and his teammates made him not even want to test the open market.

“Continuing to grow with those guys and watch the organization grow like it is, it’s something that I didn’t want to take for granted or see if the grass is greener,” Lugo said. “It’s something special that you don’t want to lose.”

It’s hard to overstate how much Lugo means to the Royals on the field and off as a veteran whose quiet but steady demeanor carries a ton of weight in the clubhouse. In his first season with the team last year, he was an All-Star, a Gold Glove Award winner and finished second in American League Cy Young Award voting. Across 52 starts as a Royal in 2024 and ‘25, Lugo has a 2.98 ERA.

That’s the best ERA in franchise history among those that have made at least 50 starts for the team.

Lugo might be turning 36 in November, but the mileage on his arm is low -- with just 960 2/3 innings across parts of 10 seasons -- given he spent the first part of his career as a reliever with the Mets. Once Lugo hit free agency for the first time after the 2022 season, he bet on himself as a starter and spent a year with the Padres proving it with a 3.57 ERA across 26 starts in 2023.

As part of the Royals’ free agent frenzy following their 106-loss season in ‘23, they pegged Lugo as one of the anchors of their rotation and signed him that winter. He responded by throwing 206 2/3 innings in 33 starts with a 3.00 ERA while helping the Royals to their first postseason appearance in nine years.

The stability, production and leadership Lugo has provided over the past two seasons made the Royals eager to keep him, despite all the talk about what they might receive if they traded him.

Yes, the Royals need young, controllable hitters to help an offense that has struggled all season to produce runs. That search has not ended. But Royals officials did not feel like Lugo would net them what they needed this year -- certainly not when they had to think about how they would replace Lugo in their rotation and in the clubhouse.

“All the things lined up that made us feel like we could possibly do this before the Trade Deadline and put all those other things to rest,” Picollo said. “And you think about the Trade Deadline, you just never know what it represents for you. But I do feel very confident that we would not have found somebody that has a couple years of control, that was a runner-up Cy Young Award winner, All-Star, Gold Glover -- I don’t think we’re finding that type of talent on the trade market.”

Lugo is slated to make his next start on Tuesday against the Braves at The K. He won’t have to worry about his future with the team.

He’ll just have to worry about pitching well in another important game during a stretch in which every game is important as the Royals (52-54 entering Monday) battle to stay in a playoff race. With the Trade Deadline coming up this week, the club has resisted the thought of “selling” and turning its focus to 2026; instead, Kansas City is trying to stay competitive this year and beyond with a strong belief in the core pieces of the roster.

The Royals are dealing with injuries elsewhere in their rotation, so pitching depth will be a target at the Deadline, but the team has not given up on making a late run in 2025.

Keeping Lugo signals that belief.

“It just fit with how we were thinking about this team,” Picollo said. “We’re not turning the page on 2025. We’re very much in this. But we also feel like our pitching is very secure for ‘26 and ‘27. So we’re in a really good spot.”