Gil Meche Doesn't Need Your $12 Million Salary

Gil Meche officially announced his retirement Tuesday at the tender age of 32. Generally, this would not surprise me, especially when considering the season he had in 2010, where he went 0-5 with a 5.69 ERA. No, I wouldn't be shocked if not for one small detail: he walked away from a $12.4 million salary.

If the right-hander would have chosen to stick around with the Kansas City Royals for the remainder of his contract -- through 2011 -- he would have had to undergo shoulder surgery, which ultimately would have kept him on the bench the entire year anyway. Back to my point... he walked away from twelve million dollars.

What's That Sucking Sound? It's the Twins.

Gil Meche was the big winner in his return from the disabled list Thursday as the Kansas City Royals crushed the Minnesota Twins' hopes and dreams of gaining any ground in the American League Central with a 5-4 victory.

Meche, who is notoriously pretty sucky, gave up four runs on seven hits over five innings in his first start since July 11th. At one point, pretty sure it was the sixth inning, the Twins were handed three walks and still managed not to score, thanks to Nick Punto not quite remembering how to bunt before spankin' new Twin Orlando Cabrera hit into an inning-ending double play. Yikes.

Thursday's Babelicious Scoreboard

If Gil Meche could single-handedly save the Kansas City Royals, he probably would. But it's going to take more than one great pitcher to do the trick for the 10-19 club.

Meche (3-1, 2.23 ERA) allowed just two hits in seven innings, retiring 17 straight batters after Vladimir Guerrero's two-run shot in the first and leading the Royals over the Los Angeles Angels, 5-2 Thursday.

Gil Meche Outstanding in Debut

Over 41,000 fans gave Gil Meche (1-0) a well-deserved standing ovation Monday, forgetting all about the criticism they may have given the organization for dishing out a $55 million contract to the 28-year-old righty this offseason.

Meche went 7.1 solid innings, leading his new Kansas City Royals team to a 7-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox and an incredibly ineffective Curt Schilling.

After a shaky first inning, Meche gave up six hits and one run, striking out six and walking only one in the longest outing by a Royals Opening Day starter since Bret Saberhagen in 1988.