This is what is wrong with baseball

Since Gil Meche did the Kansas City Royals a favor and retired out of his ridiculous contract, the Royals now have a projected payroll of just 33 million dollars for 2011 season. I know that sounds like a lot but in baseball terms it is not. To but it in perspective 33 million is just two million dollars more than what the New York Yankees will play Alex Rodriguez for 2011. If one team can pay one player what another team pays their entire staff, the sport itself has a huge problem.

I fully understand it is how you spend your money in baseball, not how much of you that you spend that really matters. However, the Royals don’t even seem to be trying. Sure the San Diego Padres have had a lot of success spending under 50 million bucks but that was money wisely spent. This is the team that signed Gil Meche to a deal he felt so bad about he retired out of it.

Last year the Royals spent 70 some million dollars on the payroll. Now they have halved that, and I wonder will they half the cost of tickets for the fans? No of course not. Let’s be real honest here the Royals are cheap, but the last time their payroll was this low they had Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, and Mike Sweeney on the roster. At least then they had intriguing prospects.

Of course they will try to sell us on the fact that they are looking to invest in more Latin American players. Latin American players come on the cheap (to start) where 1 million will get you a very good player and 3 million a year will get you a legend. Right now I am glad I am not a Royals fan, and that my team is their divisional rival because they are not even trying.

Related Links:

• Kansas City Chiefs news and notes
• The Business of Major League Baseball
• Joshua Lobdell.com