The Kansas City Royals yesterday announced that they signed Zach Greinke to a long-term contract, which will assure some payroll stability for the next few years since Greinke will avoid arbitration.  The Royals have begun increasing payroll, and should reach the league median by next year according to this Sam Mellinger article. While I have long said you need to overpay a player like Gil Meche to come to the Royals, and to change the organizational culture, I would have to say signing Greinke will do more for that cause, especially in the eyes of the fans.  Fathers can bring their kids to the ballpark knowing Greinke will be here for years to come, rather than being sent to another team in a deadline deal like Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran.  (There isn’t a no-trade clause in the contract, so in theory, Greinke could still get traded, but the chances are lower since the team won’t have to face arbitration or lose him for draft picks.)   For those of you not familiar with Zach Greinke, and most likely only those who play in the deepest of fantasy teams are, the pitcher is coming off a 200-inning season with a 3.47 ERA, 183 strikeouts, and a 3.27 strikeout to walk ratio.

Mellinger also points out, that Royals spent more on last years draft than any other club, showing some signs that they are finding the model that will work in a small market, and are spending money, just not on the big ticket free agents.  In other reporting by Mellinger, it also seems the Mark Teahan will get some playing time at second base during spring training.  This will be his second position change, but with the Royals overcrowded outfield, and Teahen’s athleticism, this could be a perfect fit.  The Royals will still be playing is a tough division, but I think they could be much better than anyone expects this season.  Of course, Teahen has to manage the double-play, something that can be pretty tough for a big guy.

Now onto Joe Torre and Tom Verducci’s book- which is important to realize.  It was done in conjunction with Torre but if you think he actually sat down and cranked out some pages you are wrong. He just made himself very available.  This Michael S. Schmidt blog post gives a better view of how we should look at the whole thing.  This could be something that works in the back of ARod’s mind all season, which will hurt the Yankees significantly, but most of it is publicity to get fans to buy one more Joe Torre book.  Tom Verducci is an excellent writer, but he also knows that to sell this book he has to add some juice that is spun from comments of Torre, that’s why both names are on the cover.  The publicist, I’m sure, just put a couple of juicy quotes from the book, not from Torre, on the press release during a slow sports week to get the back covers of the tabloids in New York and generate some buzz.  If you have a different perspective, go to our message board where the topic is buzzing and leave your comment.