How about those apples... Adam?

Troy Neel, who bought an island in wth > Vanuatu to avoid paying his state-record $700,000 in child support, was sentenced today. That's twice as much as he earned in his three years in MLB.

Troy Lee Neel, who owes $778,917 in child support, admitted in a plea deal in May that he traveled to the south Pacific island nation of Vanuatu to avoid paying child support.

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez could have imposed a two-year prison sentence recommended by federal sentencing guidelines, which also called for one year of supervision after prison. But the judge said the probation term gave him more control of Neel and was more appropriate so Neel could start paying down the debt.

The judge also noted that Neel has been in jail for more than seven months, since his arrest Dec. 11.

“If I sentence you to prison, you make no money,” Rodriguez said. “And then, I'll only have control over you for one year.”

Neel's lawyer, James Sustaita of Austin, told the judge Neel would “work at McDonald's, coach Little League or do whatever it takes” to pay.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bud Paulissen, with state authorities by his side, did not oppose the probation term.

In a news conference in May, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said it took 10 years to catch up with Neel.

“This is the most egregious child-support evader in Texas history,” Abbott said then.

He added that Neel's debt far surpassed the total outstanding child-support amount for the top 10 deadbeats in a list that Abbott's office released in May.

Abbott credited the efforts of several agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. attorney's office, in helping his office track down and apprehend Neel. Neel, 43, lived for years in Vanuatu and was arrested in December by investigators with the Health and Human Services Department's Office of Inspector General after getting off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport. Neel's child-support bill dates to November 1998 for his two children, according to Abbott. That year, Neel was ordered to pay $5,000 a month in support, a number based on his earnings as a professional athlete. Neel was added to the state's top-10 list of child-support evaders in February 2002.