Gordon, arbitration, and Nelson Cruz

The Royals completed the offseason by avoiding arbitration with Gordon. They signed him to a one year 4.8 with escalators contract. This comes the same day, or within a day or two, of Nelson Cruz signing for 16 over 2 with Texas. The Royals got the better of the deal. Alex had a fantastic year. He hit well and he won the gold glove. You can argue that someone else could have won the gold glove. What you can't argue is that someone else was Nelson Cruz. Rangers fans will need sedation when the game 6 fly ball is replayed. Not an easy catch for Nelson but one that he could have made. I don't really care about that. What I care about is that Royals were more patient than I would have been. I may have knee jerked and rewarded the season Alex had with a big extension, you know how Lloyd did with Frenchy. If anything good comes from the stupid Frenchy extension maybe it will be using their head with Alex. You can lock him up long term or you can still have 2 arbitration years. I have stated that I would extend Alex now, I even asked DM to do so. I like the approach both sides are taking on this. Alex has another great season, he gets paid. The sides work out an extension, Alex gets paid. Either way the Royals will be better with AG in the lineup. He approached the potential I was hoping for last year. If the Royals are to be 500 and in contention they need a season equal to or better than last year out of Gordon. They need 20 and 90 from Frenchy, too. I think Alex having a great year is more likely than Frenchy having a 20/90 season. The Frenchy extension was a Lloyd Christmas move. Yuni being back was too. Maybe Lloyd took a detour on the way to Surprise and made a 16 over 2 year deal to Nelson Cruz. Pretty sure Jeff would have made that catch in the World Series. Fun and games until the fun and games start. Go Royals. Get to camp and lets get ready for being 500 and in contention.