Carpe Diem, Dayton!

So how much money has St. Louis spent on free agents this winter? Off the top of our head, the Cardinals biggest move of the off-season was re-signing Jason LaRue.

So St. Louis must be pretty much set, right? They probably couldn't have used a proven set-up man who strikes out as many batters as any reliever in baseball.

And too bad the Twins didn't sign Juan Cruz -- he could have really solidified their pen.

And the Indians gave Kerry Wood approximately $7 milion more per year than Cruz. (And, yes, we are aware that DM gave the Meaty Sweathog almost twice as much as Cruz.)

Anyway, the Royals didn't get two of their biggest targets (Furcal and Hudson), but it wasn't for lack of trying. DM has been very active. In fact, the Royals have spent more money this off-season than most teams in baseball.*

The money spent this off-season didn't buy much OBP, but it did improve the team. Looking at the position players, the Royals are better than they were last year. They are somewhat better in CF, LF, SS and 1B. And you can realistically expect more production out of 3B and DH. Pitching is usually a crapshoot, but the Royals staff stacks up with most.

So the Royals are as good as every other mediocre team in the AL Central.

But, of course, there are still problems. We're guessing that TPJ makes the club and that he plays SS when Bloomquist isn't playing 2B. That would give you an updated bench of: TPJ, Gload, Teahen, and Buck.

That would look better if only the bench players were all somebody better than TPJ and Gload and Teahen and Buck.

*Remember: The Royals also spent more money than any team in baseball in last year's draft.

P.S. Does Alex Gordon have a hit yet this spring?