[alnorth]

Oh, and to those who might say "well its high, but he could help us win, just do it!" I do agree that the Royals ought to be willing to overpay for a couple years, maybe even 3 if a free agent pitcher gives us a shot.

However, ideally you'd like to see our books stay clear 4 or 5 years from now, to give us the maximum flexibility possible to sign/extend our own prospects to long-term deals. We give Edwin Jackson 60/5 and his career starts taking a dive 3 years from now but he's still collecting checks, he might cost us a chance to keep one of our guys.