Royals’ Gibson Says He Has Plenty Left : Baseball: Former Dodger agrees to two-year contract for $3.5 million, vows to motivate his new club.

Insisting he is still capable of playing a major role after two injury-marred seasons with the Dodgers, Kirk Gibson said Saturday that he can guarantee one other thing.

“We’ll field the best football team in the majors,” Gibson said after agreeing to play with Bo Jackson and the Kansas City Royals for the next two years.

Gibson, 33, who was paid $4.5 million in his three years with the Dodgers, has been guaranteed about $3.5 million by the Royals, with the chance to earn about $4.7 million if he fulfills incentives based on appearances and at-bats.

The Milwaukee Brewers, he said, were his second choice, with offers also coming from the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos.

Gibson said he agreed to terms Friday night after having a physical in Kansas City.

The quieter lifestyle in Missouri, its proximity to his Michigan home and the team’s potential attracted him to the Royals, said Gibson, who will be used as a part-time designated hitter and outfielder and full-time leader in the clubhouse.

“What you see throughout Gibson’s career is that he’s been a winner and a presence,” Herk Robinson, the Royals’ general manager, said before leaving Kansas City for the winter meetings here.

Added George Brett, the Royal first baseman: “If he’s healthy, he could be a tremendous asset to the club. I don’t know if he can play the outfield with the outfielders we have already, but he can definitely raise the intensity level.

“He plays 162 games like football players play once a week. We need some serious faces after the year we had.”

The Royals, considered a favorite in the American League West after signing free agents Mark Davis and Storm Davis last winter, finished 75-86, the third-worst record in their 22-year history.

Dodger pitcher Tim Crews talked about what the Royals will be getting in terms of what the Dodgers are losing.

“Physically, he can be replaced,” Crews said. “We got a guy (Darryl Strawberry) who hits as many homers and drives in as many runs, but we’ll miss his attitude and intensity. Kirk never gave up.”

Gibson never received an offer from the Dodgers, although Fred Claire, team executive vice president, said Saturday he had informed agent Doug Baldwin that he was prepared to offer arbitration before the Dec. 7 deadline, meaning Gibson could have stayed another year if he had wished.

“With our outfield structure, I couldn’t go beyond that,” Claire said, adding that he thinks a healthy Gibson will pay dividends for the Royals, and that he is deserving of thanks for his contributions to the Dodgers.

“The Gibson chapter was a success,” Claire said. “I don’t know if in the history of the game there was a player who signed as a free agent and became a most valuable player the next year. That speaks for itself.”

Gibson was National League MVP in 1988 when he spurred the Dodgers to an unlikely pennant and World Series victory, hobbling to the plate to hit one of the most dramatic home runs in club history as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of Game 1 of that Series.

Reduced to a part-time role by leg injuries and forced to undergo an experimental hamstring surgery, Gibson batted .213 over the next two years, hitting only 17 home runs. It was a span of frustration that seemed to bottom out in September when Gibson batted .159 with no homers and four runs batted in.

Amid the struggle, frustrated by his slow recovery and by what he felt was a half-hearted attempt by Claire to satisfy his desire to be traded to an American League team near his home, Gibson engaged Claire in a clubhouse shouting match that Claire says was talked out and forgotten the next day.

“Kirk said what he had to say, and I said what I had to say,” Claire said. “I have nothing but respect for him.”

Speaking by phone Saturday, Gibson said he regarded the Dodger experience as positive, although Los Angeles was the culture shock he expected, and that Kansas City will be better for a country boy.

“I did a lot for the Dodgers, and the Dodgers did a lot for me,” he said. “I think we both have our memories.”

Gibson said he doesn’t feel he has anything to prove.

“I’m excited,” Gibson said. “I’ll be going to spring training at the same physical level as everybody else, and that wasn’t the case the last two years. What it boils down to is I still enjoy the competition, I can still be an impact player and I can still contribute.”

The goal is a World Series victory, such as he experienced with the Detroit Tigers in 1984 and Dodgers in 1988.

“I definitely want a trifecta,” Gibson said. “The Royals are due. . . . Maybe I can help point them in the right direction.”

Gibson will probably be used as a DH on the synthetic surface of Royals Stadium, getting a chance to play the outfield when the Royals play on grass.

“They have to use me properly, that’s been discussed,” he said. “I’m not 21.”

The Kansas City outfield has Jackson in left, Brian McRae in center and Danny Tartabull in right. The Dodgers have Kal Daniels in left, Strawberry in center and Hubie Brooks in right.

Times staff writer Bill Plaschke contributed to this story.

WINTER MEETINGS: The annual get-together has become merely another place to negotiate with representatives of free agents. C10