KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former Acadiana High pitcher Gil Meche, whose $55 million, five-year contract as a free agent in 2007 signaled a sharp change in fiscal policy for the Kansas City Royals, announced Tuesday that he is retiring.

In a statement released through the Royals, the right-hander, who was plagued by shoulder problems last year, said he preferred retirement to spending the final year of his contract in the bullpen.

Meche was the Royals’ opening-day starter in 2007, ’08 and ’09. His best season was 2008 when he was 14-11 with a 3.98 ERA, but the Royals still finished 75-87.

He retires with a 84-83 record in 10 seasons with Seattle and Kansas City. With the Royals, he was 29-39 with a 4.27 ERA in 111 games, including 100 starts. In the last two seasons, he was 6-10 with a 5.09 ERA and 0-5, 5.69.

“After a lot of thinking and prioritizing of issues in my life I have decided to retire from baseball,” Meche said.

“As a competitor my entire life, this is the hardest decision that I’ve ever faced, but it’s not fair to me, my family or the Kansas City Royals that I attempt to pitch anymore. I came into this game as a starting pitcher and unfortunately my health, more accurately, my shoulder, has deteriorated to the point where surgery would be the only option and at this stage of my life I would prefer to call it a career rather than to attempt to pitch in relief.”

“I can’t thank the Kansas City Royals and their fans enough for my four seasons there and if I have any regret, it’s that we weren’t able to accomplish on the field what the goal was when I signed there.”

Shut out of the postseason since 1985 with an overmatched low-payroll team, Royals fans hoped Meche’s signing would encourage owner David Glass to begin increasing payroll. To some extent, he did, signing free agent outfielder Jose Guillen to a three-year, $36 million deal before the 2008 season. Guillen, after spotty success in Kansas City, was traded last August to the San Francisco Giants.

On June 16, 2009, then-manager Trey Hillman let Meche threw a career-high 132 pitches in a complete-game shutout of Arizona. Soon after, Meche began experiencing back and shoulder problems, and Hillman was criticized for overworking him.

Meche was moved to the bullpen late last season. Hillman was fired during the 2010 season and replaced by Ned Yost.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Royals pitcher Gil Meche retired on Tuesday at age 32, walking away from a $12 million salary rather than face shoulder surgery that could have ended his season before it ever started.

Meche signed a $55 million, five-year deal with Kansas City as a free agent before the 2007 season. But the right-hander had shoulder problems last year while going 0-5 with a 5.69 ERA.

Gil Meche is opting to retire instead of going for shoulder surgery, forgoing a $12 million salary for 2011.

There was a chance Meche could undergo surgery and come back in the bullpen. There was no guarantee, however, that he would be able to pitch at all in 2011.

“I didn’t want to go try it again for another season and be the guy making $12 million doing absolutely nothing to help their team,” Meche said. “Yeah, a lot of people might think I’m crazy for not trying to play and making this amount of money. I don’t think I’m ever going to regret it.”

Meche’s decision drew a predictable reaction from some of his friends.

“I told a lot of people, the first comment when they heard this come from my mouth was, ‘$12 million,’” he said. “My first reaction is I’m not a guy who’s going to sit here and play baseball for the money. I know you hear a lot of athletes say, ‘It’s not for the money, it’s not for the money.’ Actually, it wasn’t.

“And hopefully this does show a lot of guys do feel the same as I do. Yeah, I’ve made a lot of money in my career and I know I’m financially good. My kids are good. That’s comforting for me. I’m not a guy who’s going to go and blow money. The money wasn’t ever, ever a factor in my decision.”

Royals general manager Dayton Moore said he’s never heard of another player making a similar move.

“I think it really reaffirms and validates why we signed Gil Meche,” Moore said. “The integrity and the class, and the respect that he’s displaying. We appreciate it very much. He’s walking away from the final year of his contract. That’s very unique.”

Meche was the Royals’ opening-day starter in 2007, ’08 and ’09. His best season was 2008 when he was 14-11 with a 3.98 ERA, but the Royals still finished 75-87.

He retires with a 84-83 record in 10 seasons with Seattle and Kansas City. With the Royals, he was 29-39 with a 4.27 ERA in 111 games, including 100 starts.

Meche went 6-10 with a 5.09 ERA in 2009 while limited by back and shoulder problems. He pitched in 20 games last season, including nine starts.

“After a lot of thinking and prioritizing of issues in my life I have decided to retire from baseball,” he said. “I want that team to win, and hopefully this helps them.”

Shut out of the postseason since 1985 with an overmatched low-payroll team, Royals fans hoped Meche’s signing would encourage owner David Glass to begin increasing payroll. To some extent, he did, signing free agent outfielder Jose Guillen to a three-year, $36 million deal before the 2008 season. Guillen, after spotty success in Kansas City, was traded last August to the San Francisco Giants.

Many have tried to trace Meche’s decline to June 16, 2009, when then-manager Trey Hillman let him throw a career-high 132 pitches in a complete-game shutout of Arizona.

Soon after, Meche began experiencing back and shoulder problems, and Hillman was criticized for overworking him. But Meche said Tuesday that game had “absolutely nothing” to do with his shoulder problems.

“I would have loved to go out and make this amount of money but I wanted to be healthy at the same time,” he said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals pitcher Gil Meche retired on Tuesday at age 32, walking away from a $12 million salary rather than face shoulder surgery that could have ended his season before it ever started.

Meche signed a $55 million, five-year deal with Kansas City as a free agent before the 2007 season. But the right-hander had shoulder problems last year while going 0-5 with a 5.69 ERA.

There was a chance Meche could undergo surgery and come back in the bullpen. There was no guarantee, however, that he would be able to pitch at all in 2011.

“I didn’t want to go try it again for another season and be the guy making $12 million doing absolutely nothing to help their team,” Meche said. “Yeah, a lot of people might think I’m crazy for not trying to play and making this amount of money. I don’t think I’m ever going to regret it.”

Meche’s decision drew a predictable reaction from some of his friends.

“I told a lot of people, the first comment when they heard this come from my mouth was, `$12 million,” he said. “My first reaction is I’m not a guy who’s going to sit here and play baseball for the money. I know you hear a lot of athletes say, `It’s not for the money, it’s not for the money.’ Actually, it wasn’t.

“And hopefully this does show a lot of guys do feel the same as I do. Yeah, I’ve made a lot of money in my career and I know I’m financially good. My kids are good. That’s comforting for me. I’m not a guy who’s going to go and blow money. The money wasn’t ever, ever a factor in my decision.”

Royals general manager Dayton Moore said he’s never heard of another player making a similar move.

“I think it really reaffirms and validates why we signed Gil Meche,” Moore said. “The integrity and the class, and the respect that he’s displaying. We appreciate it very much. He’s walking away from the final year of his contract. That’s very unique.”

Meche was the Royals’ opening-day starter in 2007, ’08 and ’09. His best season was 2008 when he was 14-11 with a 3.98 ERA, but the Royals still finished 75-87.

He retires with a 84-83 record in 10 seasons with Seattle and Kansas City. With the Royals, he was 29-39 with a 4.27 ERA in 111 games, including 100 starts.

Meche went 6-10 with a 5.09 ERA in 2009 while limited by back and shoulder problems. He pitched in 20 games last season, including nine starts.

“After a lot of thinking and prioritizing of issues in my life I have decided to retire from baseball,” he said. “I want that team to win, and hopefully this helps them.”

Shut out of the postseason since 1985 with an overmatched low-payroll team, Royals fans hoped Meche’s signing would encourage owner David Glass to begin increasing payroll. To some extent, he did, signing free agent outfielder Jose Guillen to a three-year, $36 million deal before the 2008 season. Guillen, after spotty success in Kansas City, was traded last August to the San Francisco Giants.

Many have tried to trace Meche’s decline to June 16, 2009, when then-manager Trey Hillman let him throw a career-high 132 pitches in a complete-game shutout of Arizona.

Soon after, Meche began experiencing back and shoulder problems, and Hillman was criticized for overworking him. But Meche said Tuesday that game had “absolutely nothing” to do with his shoulder problems.

“I would have loved to go out and make this amount of money but I wanted to be healthy at the same time,” he said.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Until today, Meche was the highest-paid Royal. By a LOT. He was slated to earn $12 million in 2011; next on the list is Joakim Soria, at $4 million. Jason Kendall ($3.75 million) and Jeff Francoeur ($2.5 million) are the only other Royals making more than $2 million in 2011.

To which I can only say, it’s about damn time.

The Gil Meche contract was ridiculous the moment the Royals offered it, and only became more ridiculous the moment he signed it. There’s just no sense in spending $55 million on any player if you’re not going to contend, and when Meche signed that contract in December 2006 there was no reason to think the Royals were going to contend for anything but fourth place.

It’s since been argued that Meche actually did OK. He pitched well in 2007 and 2008, gave the Royals some innings in 2009, and with a decent 2011 — even just pitching out of the bullpen — he could essentially give the Royals their $55 millions’ worth.

Please.

The Royals threw $55 million into a giant sinkhole, $55 million that could have been better spent elsewhere. Exactly where, I don’t know. But you’ll have an awful hard time convincing me that 617 innings and a 4.27 ERA was the best way to spend $55 million. Or even a good way. And yes, hindsight it 20/20 but it’s not like Meche had some brilliant history of success when the Royals signed him. It looked (to me) like a stupid move then, and it looks like a stupid move now.

Granted, theoretically the Royals don’t owe him that $12 million this year, which would make the deal look quite a bit better. But I suspect that they’ll pay him some chunk of that money, as a sort of settlement. It’s just hard to see Meche leaving $12 million on the table, when to earn it all he’d have to do is throw 50 innings of relief or something this summer.

Either way, the Royals will have a tiny payroll this season, which should allow them to invest heavily in the draft, again. Which, considering their drafting success over the last three or four years, seems like a mighty good thing.