MLB News: Cole Ragans, Royals Reportedly Agree to 3-Year, $13.3M Contract Extension

The Kansas City Royals have signed starting pitcher Cole Ragans to a three-year, $13.25 million extension, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Friday.

The deal impacts the first three years Ragans is under team control. He is currently set to be arbitration eligible in 2028 and hit free agency ahead of the 2029 season.

The left-hander is coming out of his first All-Star season in 2024, during which he marked a 11-9 record and 3.14 ERA with 223 strikeouts in 32 starts and 186.1 innings pitched.

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand provided a breakdown of Ragans' deal, which includes a $250,000 signing bonus and a $1 million salary for 2025.

According to Feinsand, Ragans could earn an additional $500,000 in 2027 if he wins the Cy Young Award in either of the next two seasons.

Ragans, who made his successful comeback to MLB after two Tommy John surgeries, finished his age-26 season fourth in AL Cy Young voting after ranking second in the AL with a 29.3 strikeout percentage.

He was also dominant for the Royals immediately after joining the team in a midseason 2023 trade with the Texas Rangers, posting a 2.64 ERA and 5-2 record in his first 12 starts with his new team.

The Royals can now hope for Ragans to continue that upward trajectory without worrying about how a potential Cy Young win would impact his arbitration salary through 2027.

Ragans wasn't the only Royals pitcher to earn Cy Young consideration in 2024. Seth Lugo closed out the voting as runner-up to Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal.

Completing negotiations with Ragans means the Royals will get to move forward with their one-two punch at the top of the rotation, at least for now. Lugo is currently locked in for just one more season before his player option in 2026.

The Royals are also bringing back Michael Wacha, who re-signed with the team in November, and Michael Lorenzen, who inked his own deal last month. The two will join Lugo and Ragans as Kansas City looks to reconstruct a rotation that ranked second in MLB with a 3.55 ERA last season.