Pay for a third baseman and a front line starter and I will be content...part of it is wanting see Sherman put some skin in the game...

Yeah - it's not an easy needle to thread to be sure.

But again - it never is for mid/small market teams. And ultimately they just kinda have to do what KC did last time: Keep your powder dry and push in your chips when you think you have a window opening.

But what that means is that you can't just target meandering mediocrity because you'll be stuck there. And hell, maybe that's what some fans want KC to do - it would mean more quality baseball games on balance. There's some logic to the approach (though I hate it; it's essentially what STL does).

But I think your ceiling is substantially lower, especially if you're looking to maintain a $140 million payroll year over year under that approach rather than a $170 million payroll.

I look at the Rays this year and see a team that should probably look to make a major move. The AL seems more wide open than its been in a long time and if they can be the team that adds that top of the rotation starter in July, there's no reason to believe they can't make some major noise in October.

Tampa makes the other small markets look bad because they're smarter.

some FAs might actually help us push back and fill up the prospect system again while not having to call them up too early due to injuries...make em start forcing their way up again

Mainly though I just want to see Sherman do something

Yup.

They're just better at it than everyone else. But it also makes the cries of the mediocre ring really hollow.

TB has zero advantages - not a one. Shitty park, shitty fanbase, god-awful brutal division. They don't have fabulously wealthy ownership (relatively speaking) and nothing about TB draws players to play there.

There's no reason they should succeed at all but they do by simply being smart. It CAN be done. And they've done it for over a decade. It's not luck.

They're just better at this than anyone else is.

Man, where is Ohearn when you need him the most?

He's batting .429!

Granted it's only 10 plate appearances.

Prorated to 600 PA's he'd have 180 hits and 300 RBI!

Witt definitely isn't re-signing in Kansas City. If he were it would have to be 10 for 400 million and we know they aren't doing that, so we can forget him.

Yeah hopefully they all dont want out at this point

Gotta spin the wheel and take your chances with him.

As it stands, the Royals have already burned two years of service time (or will have by the EOY) and haven't gotten a deal done, so you may be right.

What they needed to have done was A) Wait to call him up in 2022 and then B) with 6 seasons still remaining until FA (one of them likely to be an arb4 year), leverage that into a deal.

I mean you're maybe talking $45-50 million total before he hits FA even with a Super 2 year in there?

Let's say $50 million - So you offer him a 10 year deal worth $200 million. It essentially buys you 5 years of FA eligibility at $150 million total. Sure, it's risky and expensive, but it's what teams like the Royals have to do to keep guys like that if they turn into star players.

Look at the deal the Mariners did with Rodriguez. It's a really interesting deal and sure it subjected them to risk, but it also guaranteed Rodriguez will never have to work again after his playing days are over even if he blows his arms off tomorrow. It's essentially a 7 year, $120 million deal w/ a team option for 8 years/$200+ million (depending on MVP escalators) afterwards that converts to a 5 year, $90 million player option if declined.

So Rodriguez is effectively guaranteed $170 million over 12 years with a chance to earn gobs more depending on how he performs.

Witt's agency is Octagon so it ain't Boras pulling the strings here. I feel like KC could've gotten something done. But they don't appear to have planned terribly well and their window to do so is closing fast.

Vinny should be retainable. Isn't likely to put up monster power numbers and has no real defensive versatility.

If the Royals don't keep him around it's because either HE sucks or your ownership group does. There's really no excuse for not getting something figured out there. His floor is pretty well established as, at worst, a quality major league hitter.

Stop dicking around and get that ironed out.

exactly, Locking Vinnie up would be the kind of move they need to get done at this point

something. anything...move the needle

they are content chasing guys off with arbitration hearings for peanuts

And honestly, I think you could get that done at something that would seem to be a pittance over the last few years.

Like, 8/$100 seems doable. And he's already 25 so he's not gonna see FA until he's 31; he'd be incentivized to do it as well.