Two years ago, the Royals centered their offseason around a beloved and homegrown star who had gone into free agency. They tried hard to sign the player. They made the biggest offer in franchise history and hoped for the best, but they also made a contingency plan.
If the player signed somewhere else, the Royals would do everything they could to protect his stature in the eyes of fans.
They would talk about the player taking a better contract, and claim blame for not doing better, and wish him well. This is a franchise built on love as much as anything else, and the men in charge wanted to preserve as much of it as possible.