{"id":96809,"date":"2025-03-04T13:47:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T18:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=96809"},"modified":"2025-03-04T13:47:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T18:47:32","slug":"adam-duvall-retirement-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/04\/adam-duvall-retirement-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"World Series Champ Could Walk Away If Free Agent Market Disappoints"},"content":{"rendered":"

Free agent outfielder Adam Duvall is coming off a dismal 2024 season where he batted .182 with 11 home runs and 30 RBI in 104 games with the Atlanta Braves. Duvall is a former All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner, and he reportedly drew interest from the Kansas City Royals, per Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, a new development emerged late Monday night. Joel Sherman of the New York Post<\/a> reported that Duvall declined the Royals’ offer due to money. Sherman says the Royals offered a $1 million base contract that included an opportunity to earn an extra $1 million in performance bonuses.<\/p>\n

“He turned it down and has informed teams that if he is not guaranteed at least $3 million, he is going to retire,” Sherman wrote.<\/p>\n

Adam Duvall Turned Down Offer From Royals Due to Money<\/h2>\n

Duvall’s stance aligns with Anthony Rizzo’s comments to The Athletic<\/a> about the importance of not undervaluing oneself for the sake of future player contracts. Last season, Brandon Belt faced a similar situation. He reportedly turned down an incentive-based offer<\/a> from the Mets and chose to sit out the year. While Belt hasn’t officially announced his retirement, he doesn’t appear to be seeking opportunities this offseason.<\/p>\n

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Duvall struggled overall with the Braves but remained effective against left-handed pitching, slashing .252\/.342\/.514. The Royals had interest in adding him as a middle-of-the-lineup bat versus lefties but were hesitant to meet his salary demands. Their reluctance reflects a growing trend in baseball, where teams are increasingly wary of committing significant money to aging players with declining production.<\/p>\n

This shift in spending has made it harder for veteran free agents to land deals that match their perceived value. Power hitters with defensive versatility face a tougher market. Instead of securing multi-year contracts, many settle for short-term or incentive-heavy deals, if not, others consider retirement. Teams prefer younger, cheaper players with more upside. As a result, free agents in their mid-to-late 30s have fewer opportunities and must adjust their expectations.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: \u00a9 Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free agent outfielder Adam Duvall is coming off a dismal 2024 season where he batted .182 with 11 home runs and 30 RBI in 104 games with the Atlanta Braves. Duvall is a former All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner, and he reportedly drew interest from the Kansas City Royals, per Pete Grathoff of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3686,"featured_media":96811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,35],"tags":[130,67,113],"class_list":["post-96809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-news","tag-adam-duvall","tag-anthony-rizzo","tag-brandon-belt"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96812,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96809\/revisions\/96812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}