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MLB Draft Deadline Signing Day Roundup: Starling Signs and Royals Spend Big

By Freneau

Everyone woke up feeling good this morning, as the Royals did what they needed to do, signing most of their key pieces. The highest pick who spurned the Royals was 8th round selection Evan Beal, who choose to head to South Carolina. (Shakes fist.)
Of course, the biggest news of the night was Starling's signing, which Old Man stayed up to cover for us. Really, in the last few years, they've all seemed very hyped to me, although there are numerous mentions of Starling being the most watched, scrutinized, awesome, etc. For example, the subhead on one of the stories from the official page referred to Starling as "ultra-athletic." Well then. The fact that he secured the largest bonus in team history is interesting, but not really. Newsflash, things cost more now. Inflation, plus Starling having that little extra bit of leverage, plus a dash of him being a great talent, added up to $7.5 million.

Kudos to team ownership for signing off on another year of spending big in the draft. This is absolutely what the Royals have to do. Without ownership's willingness to spend heavily, year after year, a top flight farm system just isn't possible. Another small-market team, Pittsburgh, shocked the baseball world by signing Josh Bell, who was previously considered a lock to sign with Texas, and it only cost $5 million. (Wow. Lots of teams missed on that one.) The Indians also spent big.  There was a small window when the Royals may have enjoyed an advantage as one of the few big-money players, but it looks like that time has passed.

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