Why Royals Will Not Sign Rowand

by Eli Greenspan on Oct 17, 2007 5:14 PM EDT

There has been speculation that the Royals will make a run at former Royal killer Aaron Rowand. I am sure many Royal fans would be excited to hear a career .331 hitter with 6 HR and 18 RBI at Kaufman Stadium would be joining the Royals, but do not get your hopes up. The initial asking price is for eighty-four million dollars over six years, so you can expect that to jump up to one-hundred million for six years, basically what Carlos Lee got. The Royals would love to have him, but have Gil Meche on their payroll and seem to prefer veterans and young players from their system. So, former number one pick Luke Hochevar will start for the Royals next season along with Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Brian Bannister, and others. Yes, they are a long way from being one of those kinds of teams but signing someone like Rowand would not make a big difference. They would be better off going after someone like Kenny Lofton to teach these guys a thing or two and give him an everyday job. He would be cheaper and it would allow them to go with him in 2009 or pull someone from their system to take the spot. Chris Lubanski will probably be at Triple-A next season so bringing in Lofton would hold him back another year. He could use a full year at that level so it would be good for the Royals. Also, P Rowdy Hardy and Billy Buckner seem on their way so hopefully the team can bond and turn into a true contender in the AL Central by 2010. I think Rowand is a great player, but it would be a step in the wrong direction for the Royals financially. The team should look to replace Dayton Moore with a GM whose focus is on Player Development so they can focus on that more. I recommend Oneri Fleita, who has found great players all around the country, but he seems like the next in line to replace Jim Hendry of the Cubs.

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This blog was a waste of 30 seconds of my life.

1st. Rowdy Hardy is soon to be AA pitcher. Buckner has already debuted for the Royals. How are they to bond and grow together?
2nd. Dayton Moore is coming into his 2nd full year on the job. He's literally had 1 full year + a few months with our team, and you are already judging him, and saying we should replace him with someone else? Clueless much?
3rd. No one expected the Royals to win the Meche sweepstakes either. Never discount a team out of which player they want, because as Dayton has shown, he wanted Meche, he got Meche.
4th. Kenny Lofton, Reggie Sanders. Been there done that. Are you Allard Baird?

by bobhamelin on Oct 17, 2007 6:27 PM EDT reply actions

1st. he is talking about the team moron...

2nd. he isnt saying moore should be gone right away but they should make the switch to adding a gm with the focus on youth

3rd. they did win the meche sweepstakes...so what are you saying?

4th. kenny lofton is 100 times better than sanders with playoof experience.

by Anonymous on Oct 17, 2007 6:30 PM EDT reply actions

first guy is a moron...they will not get rowand so stop bleepin whining.

by Anonymous on Oct 17, 2007 6:31 PM EDT reply actions

In what world is Dayton Moore NOT about player development?

And please begin to understand the use of paragraph breaks.

by Anonymous on Oct 17, 2007 7:03 PM EDT reply actions

take it easy ladies and gentleman. the royals will not land aaron rowand-moore has not focued on player development since joining the team so maybe it is harsh to say he should be fired...but someone who is looking to rebuild-i agree

by Anonymous on Oct 17, 2007 8:05 PM EDT reply actions

Sorry you all feel this way-
I belive the royals will not get Rowand and I think they should save their money on something more valauble...look who they have signed or brought in. there should be more of an emphasis on player development which i have not seen.

by Eli on Oct 17, 2007 8:07 PM EDT reply actions

Royals will not get________. Fill in the blank with any decent free agents name. They are the Washington Generals of baseball.

by Anonymous on Oct 17, 2007 8:17 PM EDT reply actions

Just a few comments:

1) I agree the Royals will probably not get Rowand. In fact, I won't be surprised if he ends up back with the Phillies when the dust settles...but, it won't be for 14 million a year. I'll say 5 yrs for 60 million tops.

2) More than likely, Hochevar will start at the AAA level next season with a callup during the season.

3) One of the areas of the Royals depth is actually CF, with both DeJesus and Gathright. Kenny Lofton will not be an option for them I'm sure...he needs to go to another team like the Indians, that are CLOSE to getting to the playoffs.

4) If Rowdy Hardy makes any type of impact as a starter in the ML's it will be a total shock.

5) Dayton Moore just completed his first full year as the Royals GM, after signing a FIVE year deal with them last year. He is not going anywhere for years to come (BTW...he WAS in charge of the Braves player development system for years and that seemed to work out pretty well for them. How about giving him a little more time before deciding he needs to go? He was given a total mess to cleanup after all.

by Anonymous on Oct 17, 2007 9:57 PM EDT reply actions

The Royals had 15 years of failed player development under Allaird Baird. I find you right on target on most of your articles. This one dead wrong. Keep up the goodwork , I enjoy this site.

by Anonymous on Oct 17, 2007 10:07 PM EDT reply actions

Eli, I really think Kenny Lofton will stay with the Indians and groom Ben Francisco as the next LF. The Indians would love to have Lofton back, and he would love to come back and play for the Indians. He'll either play for the Indians or retire.

by KevinGillman on Oct 17, 2007 10:50 PM EDT reply actions

The Royals probably won't sign Rowand. But most of what you say shows no understanding of the Royals organization.

by redskyraymond on Oct 17, 2007 11:20 PM EDT reply actions

Some corrections:

Moore was NOT in charge of player development with the Braves until 2002. So 'for years' is only technically right. He became asst. to the GM in 2005 and took over the Royals a scant 16 months ago.

But with this article, I can feel the punchline from the beginning. And it feels dirty. You interviewed Fleita, a man with NOWHERE near the résumé as Moore, and plug him for the job.

It's hack work. Figure out what you want to be. Anyone scanning this website in the most rudimentary of ways sees it, including the delete of the Meche article.

by Anonymous on Oct 18, 2007 1:19 AM EDT reply actions

Some of you are forgetting this is a one-sided blog written by a high schooler that doesn't know much about MLB. I understand these are personal opinions, but very rarely do you see a source cited. Excuse me while I go to a site that has worthwhile and accurate info.

by Anonymous on Nov 27, 2007 12:56 PM EST reply actions