While I was in the midst of the team reviews last week, Mike Sweeney completed a five-year contract extension with Kansas City on Friday. The extension is worth $55 million over 5 years.

He has one season at $8M left on his old contract, so this contract could tie him to the Royals through 2007. However unless the Royals finish better than .500 in either 2003 or 2004, Sweeney can reportedly exercise an escape clause and become a free agent.

He has a complete no-trade clause through 2003 and a 22-club no-trade clause from 2004-2007. If Sweeney is traded to one of the eight clubs not covered under the no-trade agreement during that time, his salary will reportedly jump from an average of $11M to $12.5M a year for the duration of the contract. If he is traded in 2004, he has the option of becoming a free agent after the season.

Sweeney could have become a free agent after this season; his Opening Day deadline for contract negotiations was widely reported, and many assumed that if the Royals weren't able to sign him before the start of the season he would follow in the footsteps of Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye by exiting Kansas City via trade before the July 31st trading deadline.

Many have taken this extension as a sign that the Royals are committed to winning and to building a successful franchise around Sweeney. However only time will tell whether it has any more significance than Selig's no-lockout pledge.

While Sweeney certainly signed a deal that gives Kansas City a substantial discount over the next few seasons, they probably would have been better off paying a few extra million up front in order to secure him regardless of the 2003/2004 records. Perhaps they are extremely confident in their ability to reach that mark and simply see this as a way to save a few dollars, but it could easily come back to haunt them.

The escape clause is risky. Kansas City does have some young talent, particularly pitching, in their system, but most of it won't have been in the majors for much more than a year by the end of 2004. Accepting a sub-.500 season in 2004 may be the only way to properly develop that young talent, though it should mean they're on their way to much brighter seasons.

Therefore, either the Royals need to go out and attempt to purchase a .500+ season in 2003, gamble that Sweeney will once again stay in Kansas City despite his other options because he can see the potential of the young talent, or possibly sacrifice the development of the young talent in an attempt to finish above .500 in 2004.

Rebuilding teams go through growing pains. What many fans and players alike fail to realize is that a team experiencing a losing season with a bunch of talented young players is quite different than one struggling with a group of overrated veterans. Although the veterans may have had some success in the past, they are unlikely to return to their past glory. Meanwhile the youth should mature after a season or two and begin to win on a consistent basis.

As the extension is written, the Royals will be in pretty much in the same situation in 2004 as they would have been this season without the extension. This year they probably would have tried to trade Sweeney if they didn't think they could agree to a deal, but with no guarantee that Sweeney would stay with the team to which he was traded, his value would be decreased. In 2004, if they don't think they're going to reach .500 they may be want to attempt a trade, but their potential trade partners once again have no guarantee that Sweeney will stay after the end of the season.

Consequently, Kansas City has managed to substitute one ticking clock for another. While the clause may not be a distraction this season, it certainly will be next season and in 2004. Retaining Sweeney was never going to be the answer to all of the Royals problems; it was merely their last opportunity to reassure the fans of their commitment to winning. Now they may have constructed an extension with more drawbacks than advantages.

Of course everything could work out wonderfully, but as long as they still have David Glass for an owner, Allard Baird as the GM, and Tony Muser managing, it is difficult to give them the benefit of the doubt. If they lock Carlos Beltran into a multi-year deal and discard Roberto Hernandez, then we can re-open the discussion.

Quite a few things happened last week while I was writing the team reviews. I covered at least one trade in the reviews and two trades were covered in "Good Chicago Sports", but there were a few other small swaps. I don't want to be playing catch-up a week behind the news all year; however I will take requests, so please let me know if there was a particular move from last week that you would like me to discuss.