So is David Glass gonna use the money we're not spending this year....
 

to re-sign our guys of the future when the time comes?

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the youth movement. However, if we are goign to go with the young guys, we need to stick with them as they develop into quality ballplayers.

I'm tired of watching the triple A team we have become over the years. We develop young talent, then ship them off to competitive clubs. If the plan is to build from within, they need to make sure we can re-sign these guys when their contracts are up!

Does anyone know where we can find the lengths of contratcs? I'd be interested in knowing how long these guys are signed for. I can live with this as the future of the club. But if these guys are playing for the Yankees, BoSox, Mets, etc. in 5 years I'm really going to start getting frustrated, moreso than I am now.

How long are these guys signed?

Buck
Harvey
Gotay
Berroa
Teahen
DeJesus

Greinke
Hernandez
Bautista
Gobble/ Snyder/ Wood

Affeldt
MacDougal

If these guys are on the team 4 years from now, then the youh movement is justified IMO. If these guys don't get re-signed, and are just developing their skills only to move on with another club 3 years from now, then something's gotta give. Whether it be a restructing of MLB, Royals ownership, or Royals management. Us fans cannot live like this. Please God, have mercy on our souls!

i feel like an asshole! :)

We'll have them all for a minimum of 6 years. They are unable to become free agents before then. The norm for the first two years is for them to make at or around the league minimum. After that, they start getting increases every year. I think they are eligbile for arbitration after 3 years (that maybe off by a year).

I look for Baird to start to try to lock them up through their arbitration years like they did Berroa. He's signed through his seventh year. The club gets a slight discount on what the player would normally cost, plus an extra year beyond free agency, and the player gets the safeguard of a long term guaranteed contract.

Baird has said the money is there to sign these guys. I just hope he's right.

I hope you're right :)

Wow... a full decade of the 'youth movement'. I can remember before I left KC hearing Herk talking about how, now, they were going in a new direction called the youth movement. That was 1994.

I guess 'youth movement' is a euphymism for acting as a triple A club in the major leagues.

That's just sad, relegate the club or fold it.

*sniff* You smell like one too!!


Sorry, couldn't resist!

There was a article by Flanagan about this around 2 weeks ago. They are all basically signed til 2008 and we will have a payroll of $50 mil

Actually,

I think the royals are doing the right thing. For the first time in years, the Royals have some young pitchers that look like they can be legit top of the rotation guys.

The only way for a small market team to win is to follow the Marlins Model: use young players with key veterans, and if you are in position to make the playoffs at the trading deadline, get star veteran rentals to make your team competitive in a playoff series.

In years you are not competitive at the trading deadline, you have to deal players that are coming up on free agency to restock your farm system (a la the Beltran deal). If this works, you will have a constant flow of young talent coming to the bigs. BUt, you need outstanding personnel evaluation to carry out this strategy.

Just My Opinion.... but I think that the Royals are going to keep the payroll pretty low and just hope that something comes outta the new Collective Bargaining agreement... ( I think the current one expires next year 2006?)

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Posted on Wed, Apr. 06, 2005



Royals could afford to keep core players through 2008

JEFFREY FLANAGAN


You will hear the Royals talk a lot over the next several years about their core of young players. That is now the standard language of all small-market teams.

Small-market teams will try to keep their core of young players together as long as they can, and away from vultures such as George Steinbrenner, while at the same time keeping an eye on their break-even point.

As the Royals look to the future, their break-even point in terms of payroll in three or four years is likely to be around $50 million. (Remember that there is another collective-bargaining agreement coming in 2007 that could sway that figure.)

So will the Royals be able to afford their core in, say, 2008? The answer would appear to be yes.

Let's take a totally hypothetical look at what the roster and payroll might look like in 2008, taking into consideration the players' service time, which evolves from pre-arbitration to arbitration to free agency. We'll also make the huge assumption that this core becomes a highly productive one.

Pitchers: Jeremy Affeldt would be entering free agency and could easily command $7 million from the Royals. The rest of the core of pitchers would be arbitration or pre-arbitration players. Here are the estimates: Zack Greinke ($2.75 million), Denny Bautista ($1.75 million), Runelvys Hernandez ($5 million), Mike MacDougal ($1.2 million), Jaime Cerda ($700,000), Nate Field ($700,000), Andy Sisco ($700,000), Mike Wood ($700,000), J.P. Howell ($360,000), Luis Cota ($360,00), Ambiorix Burgos ($360,000).

Catchers: John Buck ($1.5 million), Paul Phillips ($450,000).

Infielders: Angel Berroa is under contract for $4.75 million. Mike Sweeney's present contract will have expired, but it's possible that the Royals could get Sweeney, who will be 35 in 2008, for perhaps $6 million as a DH then. Ruben Gotay ($1.2 million), Mark Teahen ($1.2 million), Andres Blanco ($450,000), Justin Huber ($450,000).

Outfielders: David DeJesus ($1.5 million), Mitch Maier ($360,000), Chris Lubanski ($360,000), Billy Butler ($360,000), Unknown free-agent bopper ($10 million). The Royals, in this hypothetical situation, would be able to afford a $10 million free agent.

Total cost of the payroll for 2008: $50,160,000

That youth movement consisted of... Johnny Damon. I think this one is legit. 20 out of the 25 players on the team are under 30.

If these guys are on the team 4 years from now, then the youh movement is justified IMO. If these guys don't get re-signed, and are just developing their skills only to move on with another club 3 years from now, then something's gotta give.[/QUOTE]As long as they are good, they will be here. End of discussion.

I dont follow the club, but I do remember there being others. One guy went to the A's and a Pitcher was signed by the Braves, I think, and got subsequently hurt.

At that time, they did not resign any of their 'big name' FA's and brought up a bunch of young people. They're still doing it and as they develop, the player signs with another club for a 10M+ annual salary that KC cannot afford.

It's truly a shame, IMO, I like the Royals back in the day, but today they're just not competitive in the Majors.

They traded Appier to the A's in the late 90's, but he was no spring chicken at the time. Early 30's if I recall correctly. The only one I can think that we lost to the Braves was Paul Byrd, who we signed as a free agent the year before, and was in the twilight of mediocre at best career when he went to Atlanta.

jermaine dye?? he was traded to the a's

-EB-