Billy Butler deserves long term contract

Billy Butler is a 24 yr old hitting machine. He does what he is supposed to do and its time the Royals start to look at doing what they should do, which is sign him to a long term deal. Billy is making near the league minimum in salary this year and that fact doesn't sit right for me. You see Billy is hitting an outstanding .344, which is currently third in the American League. The two guys ahead of Billy are Vladimir Guerrero and Justin Morneau. Their salaries? Vlad gets 5.5 mil and Justin gets 15 mil. Granted they've had a little better career thus far, but Billy has to project as having more potential at this stage in their careers. Billy salary is only 470k! The league minimum is 400k! For a guy thats also second in hits, third in doubles, tenth in on base percentage, twenty first in slugging percentage the salary doesn't equal the production. Billy has three years of big league experience. He is eligible for arbitration from 2011-2013, which means he is ineligible for free agency, is without a contract, cannot agree to terms on a new contract with his current team and has been on the roster for three years. This means that Billy and the Royals have to submit salary offers and an arbitrator decides which is fair based on players with similar ability and years of experience. If I was in Billy's situation I would want the long term security, the respect of my peers, my owners trust and more than anything to be paid what I am producing. He deserves more then what we are currently giving him and I would argue more than what we will offer him. Baseball is a grueling sport, 162 games is a lot and the players get paid less than any other sport per game. When you have a gem, you reward him or you let him sign somewhere that will. Unfortunately for Royals fans, letting them go to someone who will is a familiar story. My stance? Pay this man!