The Royals have re-signed one of their greatest players of all-time, Alex Gordon

There was a time earlier this offseason when it looked like Alex Gordon was going to find himself patrolling an outfield other than Kauffman Stadium in 2016. It looked as though the Royals' first-round Draft pick in 2005, who was groomed through the Minors before eventually, a full decade later, leading the team to its first World Series title since 1985, was going to be playing for another team. "It's just business decision," "it's nothing personal," "it won't affect the wonderful memories that you had," were the thoughts surely swirling in fans' minds. 
Fortunately, on Wednesday, that future did not come to pass. The team and Gordon have reached a four-year, $70 million pact that will keep the left fielder in Kansas City through his age-35 season. It will also give him a chance to become the greatest Royals player to ever suit up for the team this side of George Brett.
Given his average of 5 rWAR per year over the past four seasons, he could take over second place on the Royals all-time WAR list within three seasons. 

Thanks to the team's patience during the seasons when he struggled to make himself a viable big leaguer, along with its willingness to move him to the outfield, Gordon has rewarded the Royals by becoming one of the best players in the game. Over the past five seasons, Gordon is seventh in the Majors in rWAR. He's just behind Joey Votto and in front of Jose Bautista, who has a Majors-best 173 home runs in that time span. 
Like David Byrne asked, how did we get here? 
Gordon may not be the most powerful hitter around, topping 20 home runs in a season only twice in his career, but he's still plenty threatening at the plate, slashing liners all over the place. Gordon hit 45 doubles in 2011 before following that up with a league-leading 51 the next year:

He's a constant pea under the opposition's mattress, too -- like last year, when he picked up seven hits in a doubleheader. Couldn't he have taken one game off, at least? (No. No, he could not.) 

Of course, it's not like he lacks the ability to go deep. He's hit two walk-offs in his career: 

And an Alex Gordon home run probably plays on loop in Jeurys Familia's nightmares. 

When you think of Alex Gordon, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn't his speed on the basepaths. But as one of baseball's finest all-around players, he's strong in that regard, too. He's reached double digits in steals five times and his BSR, an advanced metric that looks how successful he is when running the bases and taking the extra base, is 19.5, putting him in the top 40 active Major Leaguers. 

Perhaps most impressively is his penchant for Roddy Piper-like gum-chewing while rounding the bases.

Let's be honest: We're all just here to see the defense. A four-time Gold Glover, Gordon patrols left field like it's his own personal playground. And the way he throws his body around indicates someone without the awareness of cause-and-effect or wear-and-tear on the body.
He's hurled himself into the stands because he doesn't believe in the structural barriers that separate fan and player:

He's run into walls hoping to prove that, like the Flash, he can squeeze in between the molecules of it. (He can't.)

And he's been fooled by the Road Runner painting a tunnel on the wall. Better luck next time. 

Of course, he doesn't just pass the eye test. Gordon has a 70.2 UZR in left field since taking over in 2010. That's a higher number than Andrelton Simmons at short and is second in all the Majors, behind only Jason Heyward's 94.4 mark. 
With Gordon re-signing with the team, fans can now look forward to many more years of big homers, body-punishing catches and bubblegum stolen bases.