HarveyHarveyLate last night, I got an email that had the daily list of Northern League transactions. To my surprise, the T-Bones had released former Royal Ken Harvey. Now, I know we all have different memories of Harvey in a Royal uniform, but I think he's generally a beloved player. He didn't turn out to be the long-term answer for the Royals at first base. He didn't have enough power or patience and wasn't very graceful afield. In fact, he didn't have any grace at all. At the same time, I think that aspect of Harvey gave him an everyman quality that we all could appreciate and even enjoy.

Harvey strung together one marvelous stretch in 2004 that actually landed him in that season's major-league All-Star game as the default Royal. Through June 23, Harvey was hitting .350 with 8 homers and 32 RBI in 62 games. The Royals were 26-36 with him in the lineup. Not great, but competitive. From that point on, Harvey hit .219 with five homers in 58 games. He struggled with injuries in 2005, getting into just 12 games. And that was it for Harvey as a Kansas City Royal.

I think we all smiled to ourselves -- in a good way -- when Harvey signed on with the T-Bones last year. He did well, too, hitting .302 with 12 homers and 41 RBI in 55 games and helping the T-Bones to the Northern League championship. This season, he was off to a good start, standing eighth in the league with a .351 average. So it was pretty surprising to see his name show up on the waiver wire.

Here's the thing about the Northern League. The league has stayed viable because of a strict and conservative financial structure. Teams are allowed only a certain amount of players classified as "veterans" and if you want to bring in such a player, then somebody else has to go. And it has to work under the salary cap.

In this case, the T-Bones re-upped with Greg Jacobs for his third stint and fourth season in KCK. Jacobs has hit .348, .333 and .384  with a total of 36 home runs in those three previous stints. With the possible exception of Eddie Pearson, Jacobs is arguably the best hitter in T-Bones history. In fact, Jacobs has hit .332 in 887 minor-league games over 12 seasons, with 107 home runs. He's got a career on-base percentage of .396 and slugging of .547. The guy is freaking Crash Davis, except even Crash got a cup of coffee in the majors. Jacobs has been as good as a professional hitter can be without having ever gotten a shot at the big leagues.

"It was a tough relase," T-Bones manager Andy McCauley said. "The Northern League has certain roster parameters and there's a salary cap. We did it to afford Greg Jacobs and Neb Brown. It came down to a veteran pinch and a numbers cruch with the cap, as it does so often."

Brown's activation was a big part of the necessity to part ways with Harvey. Brown is a speedy, high-contact guy that can also go deep on occasion and has good plate discipline. He can also play second, third and the outfield.

"Ken Harvey is one of the best players in the league," McCauley said. "But in order to get two for one, it's a tradeoff we had to make. We get more flexibility as Neb can play left and Ken is pretty much relegated to first base and DH. Of course, he did it better than anyone in the league. He was just the odd man out in this situation. He's a great guy and he'll catch on somewhere else."

Still, you have to think it would hard for an ex-big league player to swallow getting released by an indy league team while hitting .351.

"Ken's a professional and he understood," McCauley said. "He'd like to stay, but I know Lincoln has had some interest and Wichita. We'll see what happens. He'll catch on somewhere, maybe in our own league."

The other part of this equation is Harvey's name recognition. After seven seasons in the Northern League, it's pretty apparent that the T-Bones are going to draw no matter who is on the roster. Plus Jacobs and Brown are both familiar faces to the regulars at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Still, having a guy like Harvey around can't hurt the gate.

"It can play a role if it works in both categories," McCauley said, referring to name cachet and productivity. "The Northern League is not a developmental league. It's what can you do for us right now.

"My job is based on wins and losses. For example, (former T-Bone) Travis Schlichting getting picked up (by the Dodgers) is a big deal, but not as much as winning now is to us. So it comes down to winning and staying within the salary cap. But if (name recognition) works, then absolutely, you like to do that."

So that explains it. You can't a fault the T-Bones and you can't fault Harvey. Sometimes, it's just the way the cookie crumbles.