Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Royals are close to signing Gil Meche for $45 million for four years. The $24 million for three year deal for Miguel Batista is still on the table (considerably more than the Cardinals are offering). And the Royals are one of four teams in the running to sign Octavio Dotel.
Sounds like money really isn’t an issue with the Royals this off-season.
2 comments:
Nationals' fans have left many angry comments on my website about this signing - thinking that if the Royals - THE ROYALS - would sign Gil Meche, then the Nationals should have tried to signed him, or someone like him.
I believe in Kasten's "look-forward" plan that doesn't include players like Meche. Do you believe that this helps the Royals pull out their decade-long nosedive, or is this more a way to placate weary fans?
The Royals have been in the middle of rebuilding for years. They draft or acquire good young talent, rush them to the major leagues, watch them fail, change their roles, listen to fans souring on the team, and then they do it all over again with the next youth movement. Dayton Moore has a new philosophy--fill in the gaps with seasoned veterans where young talent isn't ready yet. The Royals pitching staff has been awful in recent years--probably the worst in the major leagues, so Moore knew that he needed to at least stabilize the pitching staff. He overpaid Meche. Everybody knows that, but you have to obtain the best available talent when it comes available if you want to improve. In a way, Moore is probably hoping to both pull the Royals out of their "decade-long nosedive" and placate weary fans by signing Meche. But he's also been trading for young starting pitchers, as well as drafting them (Luke Hochevar, the number one pick in the draft this year). He's rebuilding this team around good young pitching and he's willing to pay more than market value if that's what it takes.
Will it work? Time will tell.
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