Stuck in neutral is how many Royals fans would describe this year’s off-season for the Kansas City Royals… and I would certainly agree.  However I would point out that neutral is not reverse.

While the hard corps baseball fan and media is not excited about the signings of Rick Ankiel, Scott Podsednick, and Brian Anderson, it is clear the front office has tried to upgrade the outfield.  Only time will tell if they have done that.

However there is one thing that needs to be said about the Royals off-season.  The four year contract given to Zack Greinke last season is an absolute steal.  On January 26^th of last year the Royals announced the signing of Greinke to a four year deal…  four years and $38-million. 

Now don’t get me wrong.  $38-million is nothing to sneeze at, but it is well below Greinke’s market value today.

Wednesday the Detroit Tigers signed Justin Verlander to a five year, $80-million contract extension.  This comes on the heels of the Seattle Mariners inking Felix Hernandez to a five year $78-million extension last month.  These are the two talented young starters that Greinke beat out for the 2009 Cy Young. 

Right now it appears Royals GM, Dayton Moore handled the Greinke contract perfectly.  He waited until Greinke proved he was a top shelf starting pitcher and had overcome his off the field issues before investing tens of millions of dollars in Zack.

If Greinke were not signed already, you can bet that his agent would be asking for at least the same contract Verlander received, and probably another year and five to ten million dollars more… and he would be right to do it.

Moore did a great job of minimizing the Royals risk on their investment and maximizing their return.  That is exactly how a small market team has to work to be successful in these economic times. 

Now let’s hope he can do that with the rest of the team.