All things considered, I'd rather have Kennedy. I knew they liked Leake from his draft year and figured they would have interest, especially with no draft comp attached.

But Ian Kennedy is going to be a great fit in KC, I just wasn't confident they'd sacrifice a pick to sign him.

Bold statement: I won't be surprised if he outperform Jordan Zimmermann this season.

That Upton deal is so typical Mike Illitch. That crazy bastard really doesn't care what deficit he runs.

Their bullpen and the back end of the rotation and defense everywhere but SS and CF still blow, though.

I've really enjoyed talking the Royals with you over the past year.

It's ghoulish to say, but I'll be really happy when more of these 85-90 yr old tottering idiots up and die.

Watching crazy ****s like Illitch and Ted Lerner give players these deals that they know they won't live to see the end of is irritating the hell out of me.

Blowing salary scales apart because they simply don't care about the long-term consequences just isn't good for the game.

I hope the Tigers enjoy their offseason championship trophy. I think I saw one of those at a souvenir store in Hollywood yesterday on sale for $4.99.

They're also most-definitely in the running for the Grapefruit League Championship.

On one hand, I can't help but appreciate it. It's how I think I would run things if I was that age and the one thing I couldn't actually buy was a championship for my team.

Illitch, at least, has already lived to see the Victor Martinez and Justin Verlander deals become horrible albatross contracts.

But yeah, on the other, the contracts some guys are getting...

I try to remember that revenue is higher than ever and the players, even with huge deals, are getting a smaller piece of the pie than typical. Would rather see that extra 2-3 percent the owners are getting spread out to MiLB guys and pre-arbitration guys.

I don't think upton's deal is way out of bounds or anything... Just typical that the Tigers would say "screw it, let's do something" after saying they were done.

I'd rather see the extra 2-3% come back to the fans by way of cheaper tickets or parking. Would be nice not to take out a loan to take my family of 5 out to the ballpark.

It was a weird signing. I feel like they should be in tear down mode.

It's not weird. They've spent on bullpen, added Zimmerman and now Upton to their lineup. Will it pay off for them? Remains to be seen. But as long as Illitch is alive, they're going for it.

Don't forget they're still paying Fielder LOL.

I googled "Ian Kennedy bad contract" and pulled up those stats in an article wondering why anyone would say Ian Kennedy got a bad contract. ROFL

They really can't be.

They have 2 more years of Miggy being a force and his contract is so long that they probably couldn't deal him even if they wanted to. They're so married to the core of this team that they might as well try to win while they have it.

Whatever they try to do, 2018-2020 is going to suck. There's just no way to dodge that bullet, IMO. Knowing that, they might as well do everything they can to win in 2016 and 2017.

If the Royals really can't get guys like Moose and Hosmer to re-sign after 2017, the AL Central is going to be a shitshow. The only team I can see that would seem to have a strong core through that time is the Twins and even that is going to require some substantial growth by Buxton, Sano and Arcia. I guess its possible that the division could open up for Cleveland if Lindor progresses and Brantley/Kipnis are able to hold it together for another 3-4 years. That pitching staff is nasty.

Fortunately for the Royals, they have the players, they just need to keep this team together. If they can, they're in a beautiful position to own the central for another 5 years.

Why would any AL team not go for it this year? There's incredible parity (as opposed to the NL) and you can always sell at the deadline anyway, as Detroit did last year.

I understand their rationale. It just seems like throwing good money after bad to me, though.

Eh, with the watered down playoff format, 90 wins gets you a seat at the table.

And once you get to October, it's mostly just a crapshoot anyway. If they manage to get to 88-90 wins (not at all unlikely with Minnesota and Cleveland appearing to be in a down cycle) and have Miggy, Upton and V-Mart healthy in October, they're as dangerous as anybody in a short series. Add in Martinez and Kinsler (maybe even Castellenos) and suddenly you go 6 deep with pretty uncomfortable ABs for most pitchers.

They have a team that can get there with the addition of Zimmermann and Upton. Then all they need is to be hot at the right time.

There's been several less likely champions over the last 10 years than the Tigers would be should they win it starting with the most unlikely of all, the 2006 Cards. Both of the 14 teams were pretty damn shocking. The Mets winning the pennant in 15. The Rangers, Rays, Rockies and Tigers have all had pretty surprising pennant winners of their own over the last several years and the Giants 2012 team is still one of the damndest teams I can recall (look at the roster, not the record. Bochy is a ****ing wizard).

Cleveland down cycle, Kipnis on the Tigers? I.e. Kinsler?