February 14, 2005
Baird Necessities
Jeff Passan profiles Allard Baird, the Royals GM, in the Kansas City Star.
For the next few years, Allard Baird hopes, this scene won't replay itself.
Last year, in the same Starbucks, a man bought his coffee and waited by the door. He waited for Baird to slink by, then stopped him, then begged for the Royals to keep Carlos Beltran. Baird assured him the Royals would try to do everything they could, which was simultaneously disingenuous and truthful. They wanted to; they wouldn't.
Now the Royals boast of a new core, a younger nucleus, a rehash of the youth movement that twice in recent Royals history has been stunted. This time, Baird thinks the Royals got it right. A handful of top prospects emerged concurrently, giving the Royals a four- to six-year window to win before the best players seek riches elsewhere.
Or, he can use this season to determine who is going to be good long term and see if he can sign those players to six or seven year contracts, as the the Indians did in the early 1990's. The Royals would then insulate themselves against inflation due to both arbitration and free agency. What's more, the contracts will make those players tradeable, since their costs are fixed. They could actually trade talent for talent rather than dumping for prospects.
Posted by David Pinto at
09:05 AM
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There may be some hope on this front. Last year the Royals did sign Angel Berroa to a four-year, $11 million deal, with a $5 million club option on a fifth year. This is the sort of low-risk deal the Royals should pursue with their other young players.
Berroa had a bad 2004 but was rookie of the year in 2003 (I know, Matsui deserved it). As far as I know, Berroa is the only player other than Sweeney to receive a long-term deal like that in recent Royals history.
If the Royals follow up by signing long-term deals for the likes of DeJesus and Greinke, at least to avoid expensive arbitration hearings if not to delay free agency, I'll have some faith that the Royals are learning how to run a small-payroll baseball team.
The two problems I see with this approach currently, is who besides DeJesus and Greinke do yo usign long-term? Affeldt? Hernandez? They still need to do a better job of evaluating talent so they have the players to sign long term. The other problem I see is that a lot of fans feel burned by the way the Sweeney deal went.
I think it's a better approach but they still need to do better scouting and drafting. That in my opinion is the critical problem.
