Kirk Gibson Offered a Contract by Kansas City Royals

Slugger Kirk Gibson, shopping for offers as a free agent, has a chance to return to the American League with the Kansas City Royals.

“We’d love to have him,” Royals General Manager Herk Robinson said Monday, confirming that the team has offered Gibson a contract. “I think Kirk would like to play here, but now it’s a matter of working out terms and conditions.

“To sign a free agent you still have to outbid 25 other teams, so you can’t be certain of anything until a deal is made,” Robinson said.

Gibson and his agent, Doug Baldwin, are seeking a two-year deal worth more than $4 million. The Royals’ offer is below that, but Baldwin says they have upped it once already.

“You could say we’re getting closer,” he said.

Baldwin said that at least one other team has also made an offer and that he expects the matter to be resolved fairly quickly.

Gibson, 33, was the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1988, his first season with the Dodgers, and helped them win the NL pennant and World Series. But he was been hampered by injuries much of the last two seasons.

He appeared in 89 games for the Dodgers last season, hitting .260 and stealing 26 bases, after losing nearly a full year because of a recurring hamstring injury for which he had surgery.

Robinson said if the Royals sign Gibson, they would use him primarily as a designated hitter.

“He could DH or play the outfield, maybe spelling each of our outfielders when we needed him,” Robinson said. “Kirk said he didn’t mind that role. His attitude is, ‘Just give me the opportunity and let me do the rest.’ ”

The Dodgers indicated that they are in no hurry to negotiate with Gibson.

“What we’ve said to Kirk, basically, is we really want to keep all of our options open as far as free agents are concerned,” Dodgers General Manager Fred Claire said in Los Angeles. “Right now, that (Gibson) is not where our attention is, as far as negotiating at this point.

“We have spoken,” Claire said. “Basically it’s a case where we’ve kind of looked at all of the options that are there for us. The signing of Darryl Strawberry, obviously has had an impact on our situation.

“We have not had discussions of any great detail (with Gibson). We realize that Kirk is a free agent like all of our other free agents. I have not ruled anything out, really. This is the time of the year where, with the winter meetings coming up, it’s difficult to say where all the roads will lead.

“He’s been a great contributor for us. We have not ruled out the possibility of his coming back.”