The big news out of Kansas City is that Bubba Starling is now in the fold.

The bigger news, however, might be that the Royals went toe-to-toe with two of the biggest behemoths in sports and came out victorious.

The Royals stared down both the Nebraska Cornhuskers and agent Scott Boras, waiting to see who would flinch. Not only did the Royals get their man, but they got him for quite a bit less than Boras’ asking price – supposedly $10 million.

Bubba is a great prospect. He has the potential to be a great player. But the $7.5 million the Royals gave him is far more in line with what a number five pick should receive, and the Royals didn’t back down.

The Boras/Starling ruse of sending Bubba to Lincoln to go through the motions of a Nebraska freshman may have backfired. After the would-be quarterback received a hero’s welcome, things turned against him. Coach Bo Pelini tried to pressure Starling into participating in full-contact drills, something Boras and the Starling family never would have permitted.

Boras and the Starlings didn’t like that Pelini wouldn’t just play along. Pelini dug in his heels. Finally Bubba was left off the official football team roster and told he couldn’t work out with the team until he made a full commitment. The pawn in the game was left to sit in an apartment in Lincoln wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

The firestorm may have actually allowed the Royals to stick to their low offer with some confidence.

The good guys in the whole scenario turned out to be the hometown Royals. Though they got their man for less than he wanted, they have catered to him for years, earning lots of favor along the way. The bad guys are obviously the combustible Pelini, and Boras, who looks like the evil mastermind behind the whole scheme.

The way he manipulates young people and their families begs the question – does Boras work for the player, or does the player work for Boras?

With several Boras clients on their roster, and having just inked Starling, the Royals certainly aren’t going to be blowing any whistles on Boras’ behind-closed-doors manipulations. But one has to wonder if anyone else will cast a critical eye on the actions of the supposed “advisor” role he played.

You would even have to question whether Starling would be eligible at Nebraska after all the negotiations that took place. Had Boras crossed the line from “advisor” to “agent” in any way, the 18-year-old’s eligibility would have come into question. Might Nebraska, the NCAA, or some other party, call the process into question?

That will have to be left to someone other than the Royals. They most certainly won’t rock any boats – not with Boras’ clients Eric Hosmer, Luke Hochevar and others needing contract extensions.

No, the Royals will just be content to keep their mouths shut and pack their newest phenom off to the their spring training facility in Surprise, Ariz. According to the Royals team announcement of the signing, Starling will not compete with the Arizona Fall League Rookie-classification team. He will, instead, focus on preparing for the Arizona Instructional League.

While it is certainly Royals fans hope that Bubba Starling will eventually sign with KC, it would be fun to get some feel for how he would perform as a college quarterback.

It looks like we may never know.

The Nebraska Cornhusker signee has yet to see the field.

After much hullabaloo over his attendance of off-season workouts in Lincoln, Starling has yet to engage in actual football practice. Message boards buzz and the Nebraska media keeps close tabs, but Starling has yet to throw a pass, run an option, or take a hit as a collegian.

The Cornhuskers started working out last Saturday – the first contact coaches were allowed to have with players. Coach Bo Pelini said afterward that Starling won’t participate in team activities until at least Aug. 15, the signing deadline for recent MLB draftees.

While his attendance at NU is certainly a bargaining chip in contract negotiations, it also seemed Starling wanted to be in Lincoln to experience, if only briefly, the life of a college football player.

It looks now like that won’t happen. He’s not listed on the team roster and isn’t working out with the squad. He may hang out with football players in the dorm, in the cafeteria or around town, but he’s not a football player. Not now. And maybe not ever.

Coach Pelini even went so far as to say that it “would not make sense for him to practice as long as there is uncertainty about his future.”

One has to wonder if the “I might play football, I might not…” game alienates Starling from his NU coaches and teammates. In a sport where commitment is paramount, Starling appears to be manipulating the Cornhuskers strictly for his own benefit.

Real football players are not the type who shun contact or avoid the potential for injury. Starling, wisely, is doing just that, but it’s just one more way he’s not truly “one of them.”

Bubba Starling fans (not necessarily Royals fans) would like to have some idea how Starling would stack up on the gridiron. A couple of intense weeks of competition would give them at least something.

Certainly Starling has no chance of cracking the Cornhusker lineup. Not with Taylor Martinez firmly entrenched for the next three seasons. His best hope would be to show in practice that he could beat out red-shirt freshman Brion Carnes, sophomore Ron Kellogg III, and true freshman Jamal Turner on the depth chart.

But now it looks like not even that will happen. It is generally assumed that Starling won’t dare turn down the $7 to 10 million that he will get for signing with KC. Not when his success at quarterback is far from guaranteed. And not when new labor agreements in both baseball and football could decrease his earning potential in future years.

Many fans hoped to follow reports from Lincoln of Starling’s daily work at quarterback over this week, adding to the drama leading up to Aug. 15.

But unless the Cornhuskers pull some major upset, we’ll always wonder just how good Starling the quarterback could have been.