The really bad part of this Royals season is that it's not just this year that's fried. Most likely, 2010 can't be any better.
The Royals made a calculated risk this season to "go for it," to overpay for some free agents, to trade cheap and controlled relievers for expensive position players, all in an effort to make a push in what looked to be a weak AL Central.
Well, part of that came true. The AL Central is weak, with the one-game-over-.500 White Sox in second place and the first-place Tigers on pace for 86 wins.
Says a lot, then, that the Royals are 18 1/2 games back, now just 3 1/2 games "ahead" -- or is it behind? -- the Natinals for the worst record in baseball and the No. 1 pick in next summer's draft.
We've been over this before, but there just aren't a lot of good answers.
Even in Day 7 of Eric Hosmer's search for the right prescription glasses -- there are three optometrists within a mile of Class A Wilmington's stadium, for what it's worth -- most indications are that the Royals are improving the farm system.
That's great, and it's necessary, but it's also long-term. Patience is a tricky thing around here. Royals fans have, unfortunately, grown used to watching losing teams and hearing about rebuilding processes.
You guys are willing to wait and trust and give benefit of the doubt, but have been bitten and burned enough in the past to spot a broken plan when you see one.
The simplest thing would be to cut losses after this season, to either trade Jose Guillen for whatever cash you could get, and to begin (another) overhaul of the big league roster.
But that's not likely, and for two reasons. First, the Royals' money take -- this should be its own post some day -- will most likely be down this year, despite a "new" stadium that's producing more local revenue.
This is because the Royals, like a lot of teams, still get more than half their money from MLB's central fund and revenue sharing. Everyone's checks will be smaller this year as revenue across the sport is down.
The other reason owner David Glass most likely won't greenlight a payroll increase is more common sense. This is what he got for an extra $16 million or so? Why would be throw more money at it?
What's happening in the minor leagues is apparently encouraging. But what's happening at the big league level -- with a 20 percent payroll hike to a new franchise record producing, possibly, the worst Royals team ever* -- is very clearly broken.
* Joe Posnanski, you may have seen, thinks this is the worst Royals team he's seen since coming to Kansas City in 1996. He's watched this closer than I have, but I'd only say that this team isn't as bad as some others because it has two stars (Greinke and Soria) and another potential star (Butler).
Those are three major pieces that winning teams want to have, which means the Royals are not at ground zero, like when they had NO good players, and did things like send Ken Harvey or Mark Redman to the All-Star Game.
But, you know, it's not an argument I would make very passionately.
There are no good options here, only choices that aren't as bad as some of the others. I'm not smart enough to know exactly what the Royals should do, but I think we can all agree that improving the defense should be among the top priorities.
We like to think about the Rays around here, and those thoughts often drift toward Tampa's quick and remarkable turnaround. It's often ignored that the Rays lost 972 games in the 100 seasons before last summer's revelation.
When they finally won, it came because of a lot of factors -- including luck, but also the confidence to stick with A Plan.
This is just me talking, but it seems as though the Royals really got away from A Plan when putting together this season's team. I think they got distracted by their "new" stadium, saw an opening in the division, and tried to put square pegs in round holes to make a Hollywood season.
Clearly, it couldn't have gone much worse. Without an increase in payroll, and with the way a lot of the contracts are structured, the Royals will most likely take a similar team into next season.
There will be some talk about how 2009 was the aberration, a Murphy's Law kind of season, that maybe they got all their bad luck out of the way and can put together the competitive team in 2010 that so many hoped for in 2009. And, hell, maybe that's true. Stranger things have happened in this game.
But more likely, the Royals and their fans will have to wear the mistakes and letdowns of 2009 into next summer. Potentially, there's an interesting free agent class after next season, and -- potentially -- some of the investments in the minor leagues may start to surface in 2011.
But that's a long, long way off, a distance that will seem even longer if the losing keeps up anywhere near this pace.
If Royals fans don't have the patience for it, nobody can blame them.
Sam you are correct that 2010 will not be much better than this year. I won't be renewing my season tickets. Heck I've got about 10 vouchers from this year already that I have no desire of using before this catastrophe is over. Haven't been to a game since July 2nd. I had seen over 20 up to that point.
I got a letter from the Royals basically apologizing for sucking and offering me the chance to renew at 2009 prices and pay over 8 months. Not happening. I don't feel like paying for the tickets for 8 months then paying for my poor decision for six months by subjecting myself to this 'team'.
I may renew in 2012 when I have a shot at All Star Game seats.