I think it will take 4 years 35 million and I think we should do it right now. The D-Rays just added Scott Kazmir to their list of long term deals and he is coming off an injury. Get this thing done.
It would take David Glass to grow a set......They need to get it done soon.
I don't think the money will effect him that much, as cooky as he is I think he is still a pretty smart kid. Keeping him in a small market town like KC would be the best thing for his mind.
I would say that the Royals need to look to lock up their young pitchers (Bannister, Soria, Grienke). There is always a chance that they might get complacent with contracts, but the Royals also can't afford to pay top of the line players what they would make on the open market. Unfortunately the Royals don't have the same luxury as the Red Sox and Yankees where they can let their best players become free agents and then simply outbid the highest offer. If they lock up those three, one of them may get hurt or flame out, but to have 2 top of the line pitchers in the rotation is too valuable.
Greinke can't leave after this year. He only has a contract for this year, but won't be eligible for free agency until after 2009 or 2010, depending on how they counted the year he lost to personal issues. I don't think it will count because he was not on the major league roster. He will just continue to either get one year deals through arbitration each year until we sign him long term or he becomes eligible for free agency.
The point is not that we will lose Greinke if we don't sign him this year. The point is that if he continues to be a #1 starter that he will be more expensive later and eventually become unsignable for the Royals. It also shows a committment by the organization if we are to lock up our young players. That will not only help with the success of our team now but also increase our chances of bringing in better free agent talent.
I can say this difinitively... true #1 starters don't grow on trees. The Royals really haven't had one since Bret Saverhagen save for a big year here and there by the likes of Paul Byrd, Jose Rosado, etc.
The only problem is that he has only put it together for 1/4 of a season. He was good as a reliever last year, but I don't think people expected him to be this successful as quickly. I myself hoped he could be a solid 2/3 starter on a good pitching staff. Anything more would be a bonus. I just don't want to give a contract to a player who is just riding a hot streak. This is a guy who has shown to be very fragile emotionally in the past. Who knows, he could have a bad outing and never recover. It could all turn around and he could turn into the mediocre Zack Greinke with a 5.-- ERA. Let's see him put it together over the rest of the year, endure some hardships, and then work on a contract in the offseason. Contract negotiations in season could get him thinking too much, something he has avoided doing when pitching this year.
I'd say that signing Zach before the end of the season is a safer bet than any of our other youngsters. He has more of a track record than Gordon, Soria or Butler. Bannister has a decent enough track record but I think there's more upside to Zach. I'd love to see all 5 of them signed within the next two years to tell you the truth.
Grienke is the only pitcher we have with natural talent.
Is he a head case? sure what ball player isn't. They need to avoid arbitration with him otherwise he's going to get some serious jack. I agree I think he's more of a proven commodity than the other young players. the best thing to happen to that kid was the bullpen stint last year. It got his head in the game
Grienke is both the biggest talent and biggest headcase we have...
But those are the guys you ride to division championships. Think about all the naturally talented players over the years that were quirky and goofy and unbeatable when it came time to rake or deal. We need to pay that man his money before July and cowboy up. I'm also a fan of getting something for Dejesus while he's young enough to be a "future star" for another club this offseason and add some Adam Dunn or Pat Burrell pop to the lineup. Dejesus is a good guy and decent offensively, but we need some mashers.
Go Royals. Get to .500 this weekend and we've got a fun summer ahead of us.
