Kansas City provided their fans with three potential reasons to be thankful by re-signing 3B-R Joe Randa, LHP Brian Anderson, and RHP Curtis Leskanic on the day before Thanksgiving. Randa agreed to a one-year, $3.75M contract that includes a mutual option for 2005. He'll also have an opportunity to earn an additional $250,000 in bonuses.

The Royals drafted Randa out of the University of Tennessee with an 11th round pick in the 1991 draft. He was in the majors with Kansas City for substantial portions of two seasons before the club dealt him to Pittsburgh in December of 1996. The following winter, Arizona grabbed him from the Pirates in the expansion draft and dealt him to Detroit. In December of 1998, the Tigers dealt Randa to the Mets, who turned around and traded him back to the Royals a few days later. Randa's first son was born shortly after his return to Kansas City, and his desire to honor the child's wish to see his dad continue to play for the Royals prompted him to relax his contract demands, though reports indicate he had better offers from unnamed teams. The Randas live near Kansas City, and Joe reportedly hopes to be home to send his son off to his first day of school.

I don't expect to see any significant growth in Randa's production at 33, but I also don't anticipate a substantial drop off in his contributions. He reportedly handles third base very well defensively, and his performance at the plate is worthy of an everyday job. While Randa took a pay cut from the $4.5M he made in 2003, the Royals didn't really receive a bargain. Nevertheless, given his history with the franchise, I don't think they were wrong in re-signing him at this salary, and I don't think they'll be disappointed.

3B-L Jarrod Patterson displayed a nice walk rate and solid power at Kansas City's AAA Pacific Coast League affiliate in Omaha last year. However, Patterson's contact rate looks questionable enough that the Royals probably made the right decision in choosing not to hold down costs by relying on the 30-year-old to cover third base for them as they vie to obtain the division title that slipped away from them in 2003. Randa's superior defense should also be important to Kansas City, as they again plan to field a fairly young pitching staff.

Brian Anderson agreed to a $6.5M two-year deal. Anderson lives near Cleveland and the Indians were competing with the Royals for his services, which likely led Kansas City to over pay. While I can see giving him somewhere around $2.5M a year, over $3M seems excessive for someone with Anderson's history. Over the last two years, he's at least done a better job of keeping the ball on the ground, but he only strikes out around 4 batters per 9 innings. Fortunately, his low walk rate prevents him from needing to strikeout batters too often. If the Royals maintain a solid defense, Anderson should pitch okay, but Kansas City cost themselves payroll flexibility by targeting a specific innings eater.

Leskanic signed a one-year contract that includes an option for 2005 with the same base salary and creative bonuses as his 2004 contract. He'll reportedly receive a base salary of $1.25M. The 35-year-old will then be eligible for bonuses of $250,000 after 45, 75, 105, 135 and 150 days on the active roster or on the disabled list for any reason unrelated to his right elbow or shoulder. The buyout on his option will start at $125,000, but after 120 days without a DL trip for an elbow or shoulder injury, it will jump to $250,000.

His walk rate troubles me, especially since control problems are prevalent in the Kansas City pen. While Leskanic's other skills are solid and his strikeout rate is hard to ignore, I don't think the Royals did a good job with the math on his bonuses. He's not worth much more than his base salary let alone the easily reachable $2.5M he'll make if he avoids arm problems.

Although I recognize the attraction of bringing back the majority of the team that brought them out of the basement of the AL Central, I think loyalty to those players could hurt their chances in 2004. Several players performed above their standard levels and shouldn't be paid with the expectation that they'll repeat those performances. They were useful to Kansas City because they provided solid production for a low cost. I fear the Royals' budget won't sustain the success of the 2003 team, if the club pays full price for talent.

Nevertheless, Kansas City seems interested in re-signing the majority of their free agents. Meanwhile, due to the atmosphere created by Manager Tony Pena, most appear interested in returning at slightly below market level salaries, which has fooled GM Allard Baird into thinking they're bargains. Seattle at least topped them in overpaying for Raul Ibanez. Fortunately, the Royals aren't willing to risk offering arbitration to any of their free agents even, so after December 7th the temptations will be removed, but I fully expect to hear before then that one or more of the group including C-L Brent Mayne, RHP Jason Grimsley, RHP Jose Lima, and OF-R Rondell White have re-signed.