Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... Jon Garland couldn't beat them. So he joined them. And then he beat the old them.
Traded from the fourth-place Diamondbacks to the first-place Dodgers earlier in the week, Garland on Friday faced Arizona in his first start for Los Angeles.
"It was fun. I grew up coming to games here, and getting a chance to pitch for this team is definitely a dream come true," Garland said. "It's kind of awkward the way it happened -- but nevertheless, it did -- and I was able to throw a good one up. I didn't leave too many tickets. I cut the phone off and told people if they want to come, they can pay for it and support the team."
A contract extension for Kansas City GM Dayton Moore is "done," according to a major-league source.
Moore's original contract ran through 2010, and the source did not know how many years the extension would cover.
This will create much anguish for those who focus on Moore's moves the past year and their horrendous performance the past 3 1/2 months (31-67 after an 18-11 start).
Now that the Yankees know they're going to be without Alex Rodriguez for at least six weeks thanks to hip surgery, they can focus on finding somebody to replace him at third base. Unfortunately for the Bombers, replacing somebody like A-Rod is a lot easier said than done, but there are some decent options out there.
Greinke, still just 25, burst into the majors in 2004 at age 20 and instantly became the symbol of hope for one of baseball's most downtrodden franchises, but his career took a scary turn in 2006, when he missed almost the entire season battling depression and social anxiety disorder.
He's slowly put it all back together since then, culminating in a 2008 campaign that saw him post a 13-10 record along with a 3.47 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 202 1/3 innings.
You bolt out into the wilderness. You don't know what Cuban has planned, but it can't be good. You go trudgin' across the tundra mile after mile for what seems like forever. You're getting colder and colder and you think it's all about to end. You see what appears to be a group of Eskimos in blue parkas playing baseball on a field of snow. You must be hallucinating. You sit down in a snowbank when suddenly one of the bundled blue characters approaches you.
"M-m-manny Ramirez? Is that you?" It's Trey Hillman, manager of the Kansas City Royals.
"What are you doing here?" you chatter.
"David Glass stopped paying rent on our field and told us that we could play for free here, so here we are, holding winter practice."
You stop. Something strange is happening.
"Trey, you're turning in to a penguin. Stop it."
"That actually is a penguin."
"Oh."
"You look awfully cold, Manny. I can get you a parka. Maybe some BP will warm you up."
You take Trey's parka and start taking batting practice. It's cold, but it feels good. You're warming up, launching blasts all over the plains of ice. You're just playing baseball. When Dayton Moore sends you a one-year contract for minimum wage, you sign it and go to Kansas City. The Royals still aren't very good, but they love you in Kansas City.
With no pressure, you hit 50 home runs and re-up for another year. You never win another World Series, but you hit 650 home runs. And you're happy.
To fans and the media, what a team does in the MLB Draft pales next to a big free-agent signing or blockbuster trade.
Part of that is the gaudy figures thrown around during the hot stove season. The Red Sox, this year's top spender in the draft, couldn't even buy one year of Gil Meche if they shifted their draft outlay to the open market. Most of it stems from immediacy, though. A big winter signing answers the question who will help me today? A big haul in the draft answers who will help me tomorrow, but in most cases tomorrow is years away, if it ever comes at all.
Still, as the cost of free agents escalates, the draft continues to become the most important way to ensure long-term success. With that in mind, and with the deadline to sign picks in the books, here's a look at three teams who won and three teams who lost in the 2008 draft
Kansas City Royals starter Gil Meche hasn't exactly been living up to that $11 million price tag of his this season. Meche is 3-8 with an ERA of 5.54, a WHIP of 1.47, and nearly halfway to matching last season's walk total of 62 already.
So when a pitcher costs a lot, is struggling, and plays for a small budget team who is in last place, the rumors start to swirl that he may soon be on the move. This is the case for Meche as teams like the Cubs are interested in his services, but Gil and Dayton Moore want you to know that it's not going to happen.
Right-hander Gil Meche just laughs at those rumors circulating regarding a possible trade sending him to the Chicago Cubs.
"How's that going to happen?" he asked.
Meche has a no-trade clause in his contract and said he hasn't been asked to waive it. Furthermore, he has no interest in doing so.
General manager Dayton Moore declined to comment on the rumor, but club officials privately dismissed it. One said, "If we're going to make a run at this thing in 2010, how are we going to do it without Gil Meche?"
Meche had a chance to be a member of the Cubs before joining the Royals, as they were one of the teams bidding for his services before last season, but he chose Kansas City. It doesn't look like a year and a half of losing has done anything to help change his mind.
Still, if you ever thought you'd hear a general manager question how a team could win without Gil Meche, well, you must be his mother or something.
Over the last few seasons since Dayton Moore took over the general manager's job in Kansas City, I've been a pretty big fan of what the Royals are doing as an organization. Yes, they overpaid for some free agents like Gil Meche and Jose Guillen, but in order to convince free agents to come to Kansas City, you have to pay them more than they're worth. That's what happens when you routinely finish in last place in your division.
Of course, finishing in last does have some benefits as well, as it gives a team a lot of high draft picks, and the Royals have used them to find players like Alex Gordon. The Royals aren't tearing things up by any means this season, as they're currently 21-23, but they're only 2.5 games behind the White Sox for the division lead.
"Why couldn't they contend?" Brett said. "In our division, I think they can. No one is head-and-shoulders above anyone else."
"If you live in Kansas City right now," he said, "and you're not excited, then you're not a baseball fan."
Yeah! Get excited Royals fans!
As odd as it may sound to hear Brett or anybody involved with the Royals talking about a division title this season, what George said is right. The AL Central is wide open this year as nobody has really stepped up and taken control of the division. The White Sox may be on top right now, but it's not like they don't have problems that could cost them in the long run, and the same can be said for Cleveland, Minnesota, and Detroit.
I don't think it's going to happen this season, unless the Royals offense starts hitting anyway, but at this point they're just as likely as anybody else to pull it off. They're basically only a five-game win streak away from climbing to the top.
The growing trend in baseball is for teams to sign their young players to contract extensions in hopes of locking them up before they become too expensive. While it's a smart financial move for all teams, it's generally a real good move for teams with lower payrolls. The Indians started it with Grady Sizemore a few years ago, then the Rockies followed suit with Troy Tulowitzki. This season it's been Evan Longoria and Hanley Ramirez reaping the rewards of baseball's new trend.
One smaller market team that is yet to adapt to this new philosophy is the Kansas City Royals, but that doesn't mean they don't have some young, talented players who wouldn't mind an extension.
"It's just kind of a feel thing," general manager Dayton Moore said. "Obviously, there has to be a willingness on both sides. We talk about a lot of things, but we're still very early in the process."
The Royals are loaded with young players who project as key players for years to come. Of those, the closest to free-agency are pitcher Zack Greinke and catcher John Buck. Both are on track to enter the market after the 2010 season.
Neither has been contacted by club officials about possible extensions.
The Kansas City Royals have gotten off to a decent start this season, going 9-10 in their first 19 games, but any success they've had on the young season should be solely credited to their pitching staff. It's guys like Brian Bannister and Zack Greinke who have been solid as starters, and Joakim Soria, Jimmy Gobble, and Leo Nunez who've yet to give up a run working out of the pen (a combined 18.1 innings between them) that's responsible for any wins the team has gotten.
It damn sure hasn't been the offense, which has managed to score a Major League worst 63 runs (they're actually tied with the Giants) this season, and hasn't managed to score more than 6 runs in a single game. So obviously, the Royals could use some help on offense, and there are a few options out there. So why not go after Frank Thomas?
Sure, Frank has some pretty enticing offers from other teams at the moment, but the Royals could be a nice fit for him as well. Since he's still going to be getting paid by the Blue Jays this season, he'd probably be willing to accept a deal in line with the $500,000 the Athletics paid him in 2006. Which would work well within the Royals limited budget. I'm not sure the same could be said if the Royals tried to go after Barry Bonds, not to mention the headache that accompanies Barry where ever he goes.
The only drawback I could see to the Royals signing Thomas would be the fact that Billy Butler would have to move to first base, but even though Billy Boy isn't exactly a defensive standout, he couldn't do that much damage at first. This would also allow Ross Gload to return to more of the utility role he's better suited for.
If I were Dayton Moore, I'd probably be giving the Big Hurt a call in the next few days.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
A contract extension for Kansas City GM 
Now that the Yankees know they're going to be without 
Emerging ace 
You bolt out into the wilderness. You don't know what Cuban has planned, but it can't be good. You go trudgin' across the tundra mile after mile for what seems like forever. You're getting colder and colder and you think it's all about to end. You see what appears to be a group of Eskimos in blue parkas playing baseball on a field of snow. You must be hallucinating. You sit down in a snowbank when suddenly one of the bundled blue characters approaches you. 
Kansas City Royals starter 
Over the last few seasons since 
The growing trend in baseball is for teams to sign their young players to contract extensions in hopes of locking them up before they become too expensive. While it's a smart financial move for all teams, it's generally a real good move for teams with lower payrolls. The Indians started it with 
The Kansas City Royals have gotten off to a decent start this season, going 9-10 in their first 19 games, but any success they've had on the young season should be solely credited to their pitching staff. It's guys like 
