KANSAS CITY -- One week after retaining the face of the franchise, Alex Gordon, with a four-year, $72 million deal, the defending World Series champion Royals appear to be close to signing All-Star center fielder and rising star Lorenzo Cain to a two-year deal.The deal, first reported by Yahoo Sports, is for $17.5 million, according to ESPN, with Cain getting $6.5 million in 2016 and $11 million in 2017. There are no club options. Club officials have not confirmed the report. 
If the deal is completed, it would avoid an arbitration hearing with Cain this year and next year. Cain is under club control through 2017, after which he is eligible to become a free agent.Cain's deal, in fact, would be very similar to the two-year deal the Royals gave Eric Hosmer for $13.9 million last March. Hosmer, too, won't become a free agent until after 2017, but the club prefers to avoid arbitration -- under general manager Dayton Moore, the Royals never have had a case go to arbitration.Cain, 29, reportedly was seeking a six-year deal, which would have kept him a Royal through age 35. Gordon's deal will keep him a Royal through age 35 as well, and it's not always wise for small-market teams to lock up aging veterans to long-term deals.Cain is one of two arbitration-eligible Royals who did not settle on a one-year deal Friday. Third baseman Mike Moustakas is the other.Cain, 29, and the Royals exchanged arbitration figures late Friday afternoon: Cain's camp asked for $7.85 million, while the Royals countered at $5 million.Cain made $2.725 million last year and is coming off a career year in which he hit .307 with an .838 OPS. He hit 16 homers with 72 RBIs and 28 stolen bases.With Gordon's deal last week and Moustakas' arbitration case pending, the Royals' payroll likely will go over $120 million for 2016. They also have been linked to free-agent pitcher Ian Kennedy, who is seeking a three-year deal over $30 million.Moore indicated earlier this offseason that the payroll would not rise significantly from last year's Opening Day payroll of $114 million.
Jeffrey Flanagan/ MLB.com
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