Monday, December 1, 2008

Grud offered arbitration; says no thanks


Mark Grudzielanek was offered salary arbitration from the Royals this evening, but quickly shot down any hope he would return to the team next season.

Speaking from his California home Grud said he was "95 to 98 percent sure" he was going to decline the offer and sign elsewhere in hopes of reaching the World Series before he reaches retirement in the next few years. He also stressed his thanks to the Royals organization, spoke highly about the fans and what they meant to him and praised his soon-to-be former teammates.

I don't blame the man. Mark Grudzielanek is a true winner. He's someone you root for. He deserves a shot to play deep into the post season one more time before hanging up the spikes (well worn one's at that).

Plus, the Royals will now get a sandwich pick between the first and second round as soon as he signs with another team. Remember this: highly touted left hander Mike Montgomery was a sandwich first rounder for the Royals last season. They should get a pretty good player in return.

Any fan who dares to blame him for turning down the offer feel free to make a post and explain your case. I'd like to hear it.

3 comments:

Mark LaFlamme said...

That son-of-a-bitch.
No. I hold no hard feelings. I was just starting to think of Grudz as a sort of an avatar of the Royal resurgance. Of course, that designation would be better assigned to one of the newer guys: Gordon or Butler, Aviles or Crisp.
Fact is, I really liked having Grudz around because he was consistent, he was a team leader and because I had a really cool Gruzielaniek song reserved for key hits or big plays. Goes a little something like this. Can I get a C chord?
Oh, Grudz-a-lan-ic. Oh, Grudz-a-LAN-ic. *a wah, wah, wah, wah...*
To the them of the Diamonds "Little Darling," of course. Not that I felt THAT way about Mark, mind you.
Jesus, was all that out loud? I apologize for the rant. I may have had a cocktail.

Levi "Tug" Payton said...

Lmao! Mark, I gotta hand it to ya man, that was a perfect post. Oh yeah, it was out loud. And it sounded more like MarkY Mark, but hey I ain't complaining. I swear I'm going to give you a blogger of the year award, son!
Keep the posts coming bro!

Mark LaFlamme said...

It's just damn funny that I sent all my Sox-loving, money-grubbing, big-ticket-player signing baseball friends a memo earlier boasting that Grudzilaniek was likely staying in KC. Most of them have Grudz envy, the dawgs.
And then, even as all those emails were making their way through the fiber optic jungle to their recipients, I read your post and learned that the G man is probably selling all his bobblehead dolls at a lawn sale in preparation for the quest for a ring. I don't begrudge him that quest, but I'm not longer rushing out to buy those 48 letters so I can iron his name on my jersey, either.
Let's hear it for Alberto Callaspo!