And at one time, Runelvys Hernandez looked promising, too. But that didn't last long. Rosado had arm problems of some sort, if I remember correctly. Neither one lasted all that long -- Rosado longer than Hernandez.

Rosado was also a two-time All Star.

Mark Redman was an All-Star, too. So was Ken Harvey. Being an All-Star as a Royals hasn't always meant much. But I hear what you're saying. Rosado was a pretty good pitcher for a couple years.

"If I were Glass, I would have put a stop to it also. "

when you're upset with the way that your GM is spending the money, you don't pull back on what he can spend, you FIRE him. you certainly don't extend his contract - which is exactly what mr. glass did.

why would he do that if he were not content with the progress being made?

also, what sense would it make to continue spending millions building around pedestrian free agents if you now have a slough of talent in a farm system - which, by the way, they invested major resources to rebuild - that is ready for major league duty? what sense would that make?

dos glass sits at the head of the table. this is their plan, and they're well aware of the amount of time that it can take to pull off. we spend entirely too much time aiming our frustrations at the GM and the field manager. just my opinion.

[["when you're upset with the way that your GM is spending the money, you don't pull back on what he can spend, you FIRE him. you certainly don't extend his contract - which is exactly what mr. glass did."]]

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This is actually a salient point. Which only adds to the confusion. Not refute the point.

If he were happy with how he was spending the money, why would he reign it in?

they started out building the team around free agency. why? because there wasn't a reliable farm system. free agency is more expensive - even for the mediocre talents that are out there.

once the farm system was ready to go, or very close to being ready, there's less reliance on free agency.

it's a less expensive avenue by default.

the payroll came down because the team got younger.

From $71mil in 2010 to $36mil the following year?!

Really?

I mean, I understand the overall logic of what you're saying...

But, really?!

think about what came off of the books after 2010.

i believe guillen, meche, greinke, yabuta, farnsworth, dejesus, ankiel, podsednik, bloomquist, cruz were no longer on the payroll. that has to be over $50 million gone right there.

they then signed frenchy, francis and cabrera to low end deals, brought back chen relatively cheap, and on came guys like escobar, jefress, o'sullivan, holland, crow, collins, paulino ...... and of course, hosmer, moustakas, duffy, coleman, giavotella, herrera, perez and the likes ..... were eventually called up.

some of the names and years might be inaccurate, but generally ...... that type of 1 year transition will chop the payroll significantly - and for the better, i might add.