Losing Alex Gordon

I might be in the minority, but Alex Gordon doesn't impress me. His numbers at Nebraska during his junior season were certainly solid (.372 AVG, 19 HR, 66 RBIs in 72 games), but college baseball numbers are deceiving. Like I've said before, the term "college baseball" is an oxymoron. It should be called college cannon shooting—given their reliance upon aluminum bats.

Didn't Ken Harvey hit .478 his senior season at Nebraska? His major league career average was .276 coming into this season—speaking of which, where is Ken Harvey this season? Yes, I know he's been on the DL since May 19 with back problems, but you get the point. College baseball numbers are hardly transferable to the major league level.

So, now we've drafted a guy with our first pick in the draft who is hedging at the $3.8 million signing bonus the Royals have offered him. He wants a guaranteed spot on the major league roster and it sounds like he wants more money. We've already offered him $400,000 more than the player drafted after him received as a signing bonus, but that didn't do the trick for Gordon.

Now we receive word in Jeff Passan's column today that Gordon registered for classes at Nebraska and will start his senior season on Monday if a deal isn't struck. The Royals would lose his rights. He'd play another season at Nebraska and then re-enter the draft next season.

I'm probably like most other fans. I think we need to spend more money to put a better product on the field, but throwing huge sums of money at guys who are unproven and guaranteeing them a roster spot is crazy. We have no idea whether Gordon will ever produce at the major league level or not and letting his minor league options begin immediately is ridiculous.

Seems to me like we have two options. One, eat the draft pick and acknowledge that we drafted the wrong guy. Or two, allow him to strong arm us into giving him more than we think is fair and thus mortgage our future in the process. As much as it pains me to say it, especially given the long term ramifications, I say eat the pick and do a better job of making sure a guy can be signed before drafting him.