It probably wouldn’t amount to several million, but it would be something. But if we’re doing a comparison to the 2008 payroll, my above $67M figure doesn’t include all or even most of the guys who came up and got prorated portions of league minimum (like H. Ramirez, Maier and many others). So I think $67M is a fair baseline to use for a 2009 comparison, with the 2009 payroll not taking into account those callups, etc. who end up getting less than league minimum.

That would have been 1.2! or perhaps even 1.2!

I can’t see how the recent pickups do anything to help make the jump from 75 wins on a $60 mil. (now $70M) payroll to playoff contenders two or three years down the road.

These moves, plus the development of young players should get the Royals to about .500. Then perhaps next offseason you get a big free agent that pushes the Royals over the top. Or, perhaps they improve up to 80 wins in 2009, make some more minor additions next offseason, getting them up to 85 wins and then in the next offseason get the FA(s) who put them over the top.

And is improving to 75 wins actually an indication the current plan is working? I would assume, in the right hands, one could field a 75 win team using mostly scraps

No, I don’t think that’s right at all. If it were that easy to get to 75 wins, then almost every team every year would have at least 75 wins. But that isn’t the case. 1/3 of MLB teams had less than 75 wins in 2008. Getting to 75 wins is an indication that the team is improving. Is it proof that Moore’s manner of improving the team (his "plan") is going to get the Royals to the playoffs in 2 or 3 years? No. His plan may work or it may not. But it is certainly one reasonable plan among many.

This just seems like a great strategy if the goal is consistent mediocrity, similar to the Baltimore Orioles from 1998-2008. At some point, they’ve got to take some chances and acquire some moderate to high-risk, high-reward players, don’t you think?

No. Small market teams who have gotten themselves into the playoffs in recent years haven’t done so by acquiring “moderate to high-risk, high-reward players.” They have done so through good drafting, player development, some shrewd trades and FA signings. Arguably, the Royals aren’t really going to be serious contenders until they have developed enough young, cheap, in-house talent. If this is true, then the Royals probably won’t contend until Moustaks and Hosmer are in KC. But, thankfully, Moore isn’t waiting for that. But, at the same time, he’s not mortgaging the future. He’s not weighing the payroll down with big contracts which would limit payroll flexibility for the Moustakas/Hosmer/Cortes/Duffy era.