A box of chocolates

I can't believe I didn't see this before. Dayton Moore doesn't just look like Forrest Gump. He doesn't just have the luck of Forrest Gump. Dayton Moore IS Forrest Gump.

Moore has ascended beyond the realm of lucky rabbit feet and horseshoes. He's literally Forrest Gumping his way through the 2013 MLB season. There's no other explanation.

Wil Myers is running away with the Rookie of the Year despite having his debut stalled until June. Meanwhile James Shields has seen his ERA, WHIP and OPS against do this since May:

May

ERA: 2.92
WHIP: 1.08
OPS: .664

June

ERA: 3.05
WHIP: 1.38
OPS: .732

July

ERA: 3.45
WHIP: 1.50
OPS: .746

August (two starts)

ERA: 6.75
WHIP: 1.67
OPS: .971

Has there been any overwhelming fan outrage? Suffice it to say, there was more outrage over Johnny Giavotella being demoted in July in favor of Chris Getz — two interchangeable players.

Wade Davis (5.42 ERA, 1.74(!) WHIP) continues to undermine the Royals' winning efforts as Ned Yost continues to misuse him as a starting pitcher while Jake Odorizzi shows some promise in Triple-A for the Rays. There's no love lost between fans and Davis, but the fact Odorizzi could do just as well at a fraction of the price seems to go unnoticed.

Winning truly cures all. Even if Moore has arguably cost the Royals wins, despite James Shields' (2.4 WAR*) positive efforts, by taking Myers (1.8 WAR in two months) out of the right field equation and adding Wade Davis (1.3 WAR) to it.

*By comparison, Felix Hernandez has a 4.8 WAR this year.

Moore has complete immunity this season for these 10 reasons:

1. The average Royals fan doesn't watch enough MLB Network to notice Wil Myers on the highlights (my guess is the common Royals fan doesn't realize Myers once belonged to the Royals).
2. Shields' steady decline has been overshadowed by his sparkling start to the season.
3. Fans are so used to terrible starting pitching, the fact there's only one main offender, Davis, feels like a positive.
4. Fans have no idea how expensive Davis is, how expensive he will be in 2014, and how expensive he could be through 2017.
5. Forget Myers, fans have no understanding of how inexpensive Odorizzi would be and how long he would have been under team control. For the amount of money the Royals could have saved with Myers and Odorizzi (this year and beyond) compared to Shields and Davis, they could have found another free agent pitcher or two and won even more games.
6. Ervin Santana is a social media darling (follow him on Twitter @ErvinSantana_54) and has backed it up other than tonight's start.
7. Miguel Tejada is a Twitter account away from equaling Santana in fan popularity. In fairness to Tejada, he has earned every penny of the contract he signed this spring. That was a legitimately good move by Moore that I can't knock — except Tejada's services wouldn't be needed if Moore had found a legitimate second baseman by year seven.
8. Eric Hosmer has overcome early season scuffling to finally look like the budding star he was two years ago.
9. The Royals had three All-Stars.
10. The Royals went on an uncanny streak immediately after Moore predicted one and new acquisition Justin Maxwell has crushed three home runs already during said streak.

Logically, there's no reason the Royals should have a winning record right now. There's no reason they should have recovered from Santana's poor start tonight. But they do and they have. In the irony of all ironies, the Royals could conceivably join the Rays in the one-game playoff.

The Orioles had this kind of season in 2012. Some team had to have this kind of season in 2013. I'm putting logic and reason on the back burner, I'm putting my blinders on and accepting that the chips are going to fall where they may.

If the Royals wind up proving me wrong and Dayton Moore right, so be it. Santana, Tejada and Maxwell have been good acquisitions. But the Myers-Shields trade was an immediate wash and long-term loss. Not even a one-game playoff will be worth the loss of Myers. Especially when it could have been achieved with Myers.

Fortunately for Gump, I mean Moore, he has enough chocolates left in that box of his to last through the rest of his contract.

Fire Dayton Moore

The day after the day

Even during the most forgettable Trade Deadline in recent memory, the Royals managed to be, well, forgettable. The Royals made one minor trade with the Houston Astros. This post will delve into that trade and elaborate on what Dayton Moore should have done if he were serious about competing this season, as well as in years 8-10, which are suddenly and conveniently at the heart of "the plan."

The Trade
Royals receive: OF Justin Maxwell (age 29)
Astros receive: RHP Kyle Smith (age 20)

The Players
Maxwell: In in his fifth Major League season, Maxwell is suiting up for his third team in the Royals. He will be a free agent at the end of the season. Over his career, he's posted a 3.8 WAR and his high year was a 2.0 WAR in 2012 — the only season in which he appeared in more than 67 games. His rookie season was 2007, so if you're wondering why the math doesn't add up with his Major League service time, that's because he didn't make an appearance in 2008 or 2011. Suffice it to say, Maxwell is an "org" guy* with just enough talent to hold his own in the big leagues. Had he not been in the Astros organization in 2012, 67 games would probably still be his career high.

*In the minor leagues, players who aren't expected to reach the Major Leagues are referred to as "org" guys or "org" players because they're basically signed to fill roster spots throughout the organization. While the term mostly pertains to minor leaguers, I think there are certainly big league equivalents, such as Maxwell. Such players can fill the 25th roster spot and not embarrass themselves.

In Maxwell's career 2012 season, he did hit 18 home runs, but offset that with a .229/.304/.460 slash line. The flash of power was somewhat impressive, but has proven to be fluky given his 11 additional home runs in parts of four more seasons. He can play all three outfield spots adequately, but not spectacularly.

The fairest description I can come up with for Maxwell is he's the kind of player that, if he's already in your organization, you're fine with keeping him around until his contract runs out. However, he's not the kind of player you go out of your way to acquire.

Smith: In his second professional season, Smith was drafted in the fourth round out of high school. He began 2013 at High-A Wilmington and remained there up until the trade. In 19 starts, he'd posted a 2.85 ERA and 1.17 WHIP as well as 96 strikeouts in 104 1/3 innings, an 8.3 K/9 rate and a 3.31 K/BB ratio.

The projections for Smith aren't quite as sparkling as the numbers. At 6'0", 170-pounds he certainly doesn't fit the starter prototype (6'2"+, 185-pounds+) and he was not going overly deep into games (averaged fewer than six innings per start). Baseball Prospectus' Jason Parks had this to say of Smith:

I know Yahoo's Jeff Passan and ESPN's Keith Law posted similar tweets regarding Smith. One tweet in particular mentioned Smith's fastball ranged from 88-90, which also isn't ideal for a right-hander, whereas left-handers seem to get away with lower velocity stuff. Smith was a fringe Top 10 prospect in the Royals' organization by most noteworthy sources, which of course has something to do with the depth in the system, and I'm sure he'll slide into a similar spot within the Astros' system.

All that being said, I think there is a place for Smith in baseball. To my knowledge he hasn't lost velocity since being drafted, so it's safe to assume he's always had suspect velocity but has still found a way to succeed at every level he's pitched. It's not out of the realm of possibility he develops into a dependable No. 5 starter someday. The Royals might actually be within striking distance of the Tigers if they had a dependable No. 5 starter this season. But even if Smith doesn't make a rotation, he could certainly have value in a middle relief role. This trade deadline showed the value of middle relief in the game right now, so he might even have more value if he's converted into a solid reliever.

The Breakdown
The value Maxwell is supposed to offer the Royals is as a platoon option with David Lough in right field. Maxwell, a right-handed hitter, is hitting .302/.348/.488 against lefties this season, although both of his whopping two home runs have come against righties. For his career, his splits are .253/.370/.455 and 10 home runs against lefties compared to 19 homers against righties. So he's better overall against lefties, but loses some of his pop, which is minimal to begin with.

Looking forward, it's expected that Alex Gordon will continue to man left field, Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson will split center field duties, and Maxwell will platoon with Lough in right. All of that makes some amount of sense and I'm sure Royals fans are giddy that Chris Getz became the odd man out when he was placed on the disabled list to make roster room for Maxwell. However, what part of that outfield screams playoff push? Maybe 1/5 of it. The rest has mediocrity written all over it and it's pretty much the outfield Royals fans have to look forward to at least the next 14 months. And just because Getz is out of the equation doesn't mean the Royals' second base woes are solved. It just means Moore and Ned Yost are sampling from a different bottle of poison.

Meanwhile, the Royals sold early and low on Smith, in my opinion. He obviously had value or the Astros, a well-run organization the Royals could learn from, wouldn't have traded for him. With the numbers he was putting up, it's expected he would have some value. But imagine if next year he were in Double-A putting up those numbers. Suddenly he goes from a C+ prospect to a B prospect. Instead of a throw-in piece in a larger trade, he could be a centerpiece of one. There simply wasn't much reason to trade him unless the Royals were getting a substantial player in return. Maxwell is gone after this season and probably won't produce much before he departs. Even if he does, what are the odds it will come in meaningful games?

The last thing I'll say about Smith is, even if he doesn't have the best stuff, if he's been able to succeed to this point, I think he could have added value to the Royals' system from a leadership standpoint. Maybe he's figured out something to get by with subpar stuff. So imagine how much he could help teammates with better stuff, but less know-how. Just because he's 20 doesn't mean he couldn't add value as a leader in the minor league ranks.

I'll leave the final say on the trade to someone smarter than me:

Even if that scout was being generous to Smith's timeline, I think he was equally kind to Maxwell, who could be in Japan next year.

The Alternatives
Despite the limited player movement before the deadline, a few players changed teams that easily could have helped the Royals this year and beyond.

Ian Kennedy (from Diamondbacks to Padres): It's not so much that I'm a fan of Kennedy as I'm merely anti-Wade Davis and the price for Kennedy was incredibly cheap. The Padres acquired Kennedy from the Diamondbacks for Joe Thatcher (a reliever), a minor leaguer (a future reliever), and a draft pick. The Royals have nothing but relievers and minor league arms to offer. I have to think a Luke Hochevar and Kyle Smith offer would have been comparable, although Thatcher is a southpaw. If that was what the Diamondbacks were looking for, offer Bruce Chen and a little better prospect. Kennedy has Wade Davis-like numbers this year (5.23 ERA, 1.42 WHIP) but based on his past numbers, 2013 feels like an aberration. If he would have come anywhere near his 3.99 career ERA with the Royals, he'd have been more than serviceable as a No. 3-4 starter. He's making more than $4 million dollars this year, but isn't a free agent until 2016. I'd have gladly given up one of the Royals many relievers and a prospect or two and bet on Kennedy bouncing back in 2014 and 2015. Especially if the move put Wade Davis one step closer to the bullpen.

Grant Green (from A's to Angels): I actually mentioned the idea of trading for Green recently. The price proved to be much lower for Green than I anticipated as the A's dealt him for former Royal Alberto Callaspo. Back when Callaspo was traded by Moore to the Angels, I thought he sold low, getting nothing more than Sean O'Sullivan and Will Smith. I think the Angels made out like bandits acquiring Green, who was drafted as a shortstop but has been moved to second base. Now the Angels are free to deal Erick Aybar or Howie Kendrick. As much as I might admire Callaspo, he's not a good second baseman. However, the Royals have nothing but mediocre second basemen. I have to think an offer of Miguel Tejada or Elliot Johnson and a low-level prospect, let's say Kyle Smith, could have caught Billy Beane's attention. The Royals could have then let Green take his lumps the rest of this season and had him ready to go next year for his first full year in the big leagues.

Howie Kendrick (stayed put): Let me get one misconception out of the way first. Earlier in the week it came out that the Royals are on Kendrick's "no-trade" list. However, that doesn't mean the Royals are powerless to trade for him. It doesn't help, but that alone doesn't kill a trade. No-trade clauses are put into contracts as a bargaining chip for players. Some players use them for teams they think they could get traded to, so when that team inquires the player can say, "Sure, I'll accept a trade to your club, but how about a 3-year extension?" In Kendrick's case, he's 30 and signed through 2015. He'll be 32 when that runs out, so a 3-year extension to get him to 35 is probably what he'd reasonably be looking for. It'd be hard for the Royals to make that kind of commitment in a matter of days or hours, especially when Kendrick is already making over $9 million a year, but I just wanted to point that out. Maybe a trade this offseason will develop. I doubt it, but he's the best second baseman available and second base will continue to be the Royals' biggest hole going into next season.

That is, unless you remember a 27-year-old rookie and soon-to-be 30-year-old journeyman are platooning in right field while Wil Myers runs away with Rookie of the Year.

Fire Dayton Moore

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Dayton Moore's one talent

In case you missed it, I sent out this Tweet a couple nights ago:

And if you missed that, you must not be following @FireDaytonMoore so you should probably remedy that. Anyway, it later occurred to me I'm probably being too harsh on poor ole Dayton.

I mean, forget Davis' league-worst 5.92 ERA among qualified starters (yes, by the most liberal of definitions, Davis is a "qualified" starter). Forget Davies' 5.34 career ERA with the Royals over five seasons and 531 innings (yes, one of the worst starters in the history of the game lasted that long under Moore's watch). Forget Mazzaro's 6.72 ERA in two seasons with the Royals (after years with David DeJesus as the Royals' "best player" that is all they wound up with the show for it). Forget Hochevar's 5.45 ERA from 2008-2012 (No. 1 overall pick, everybody). And forget Sanchez's 7.76 ERA in 12 starts with the Royals in 2012. Forget that at least one of those five pitchers has been starting games for the Royals every year since 2007 even though, you'd think, Moore would have stopped pursuing such pitchers by like 2010.

Forget all that.

It's not fair to point out all those complete and pathetically utter failures on Moore's part and not bring to light the successes.

Sanchez began his career as a middle reliever and was slightly less implodable. Hochevar has a 2.00 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 36 innings as a middle reliever this season and, although most of those inning have been low leverage, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal writes he's the Royals' best trade chip. Mazzaro has a 2.62 ERA in 44 2/3 innings this season for the Pirates in a middle relief role. Davies' last success came out of the bullpen in 2011 (in Triple-A — he never experienced Major League success). Davis' one year of positive contribution in Tampa Bay came as a reliever in 2012, posting a 2.43 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 70 1/3 innings.

So there you have it! Dayton Moore may be the worst general manager in all of sports — by leaps and bounds — but he does have a hidden talent. He has no equal when it comes to finding pitchers that are useless as starting pitches, but above average as relievers.

And perhaps that explains why Moore is so stubbornly refusing to part with Ervin Santana.

Amid some criticism last October, Moore acquired Santana for Brandon Sisk. Seeing how Santana was entering the last year of his contract, it wasn't the boldest of moves. However, Santana was coming off arguably the worst season of his career, so expectations were low, to say the least.

Nine months later, Santana has exceeded all expectations and proven to be an ideal No. 2 behind James Shields, spoiled only by the fact Moore neglected to fill out the rest of the rotation, let alone the lineup.

So from Moore's perspective, certainly he must be aware 99 percent of the moves he's made with the Royals have flopped. Throwing back the one catch he reeled in worth celebrating probably isn't easy.

Probably isn't easy for Moore, that is.

Billy Beane built a mini-empire trading prospects like Brandon Sisk for players like Ervin Santana only to turn around months later and cash in such a player for a collection of prospects or a younger player under team control. It's simple economics.

Former GM and current ESPN analyst Jim Bowden puts it simply:

Santana's on the mound again tonight against a great Orioles offense. If he shuts them down, his value will continue to climb. And, as I wrote last time, if Moore plays his cards right as July 31 approaches, he should land a few prospects on par with what the Cubs received for Matt Garza.

And I did just read a Tweet from Rosenthal that said the Royals are willing to listen to offers for Santana. I suppose that's encouraging. I can only imagine how many middle relievers Santana is worth.

Fire Dayton Moore

Click here to sign our free, simple petition to save baseball in Kansas City.

Santana's time is up

One bit of news seems to be dominating the sports universe today. Of course it's not the story of the football player who will miss four games due to a drug suspension, it's the story about a baseball player who will miss 65 games with no pay. But I'm not here to write about witch hunts and double standards.

I'm here to write about the second biggest news item of the day in baseball. The Rangers finally landed their man, Matt Garza, from the Cubs. The deal was as follows:

To Texas: P Matt Garza

To Chicago: 3B Mike Olt, P C.J. Edwards, P Justin Grimm, one or two players to be named later

Garza, who sports a 3.17 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, nearly 8 K's per nine innings and a 3.1 K/BB rate in 11 starts this year, is a free agent after the season and turns 30 in November. So for a two-month rental, the Cubs received perhaps their third baseman of the future, an exciting pitching prospect, an inexpensive arm to fill the back of the rotation or front of the bullpen, and perhaps something of value from the one or two PTBNL. Not too shabby.

And let us not forget the Cubs already dealt Scott Feldman (30, also a free agent after the season) for two interesting arms in Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop plus cash. Thus, the Cubs have virtually set the basement and ceiling prices for starting pitching this summer.

Just a little further west across the Midwest, Kansas City owns the rights to a pitcher with a 3.18 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 7.2 K/9, 3.7 K/BB in 19 starts against more American League hitters than Garza. This pitcher is also a free agent after the season and turns 31 in December, so therefore should be on the Royals' trading block. This pitcher is, of course, Ervin Santana, and the operative word here is "should" since we must, of course, factor Dayton Moore into the equation.

Late last week ESPN posted five American League and five National League trades that must or needed to happen. This was No. 5 on the NL list, looking at it from the San Francisco Giants' perspective:

Right off the bat, I see one glaring problem with this deal. The Giants are arguably in worse position than the Royals. Yes, they're only 5.5 games out of first place and 9.5 games out of a wild card spot. However, they're fourth in their division.

As much as I would like to think the Diamondbacks' chariot will eventually turn into a pumpkin, they've made it this far. The same could be said for the Rockies. But most importantly, the Dodgers are surging. I have a sinking suspicion Brian Sabean views the rest of the season more rationally now than Moore viewed the Royals' 2013 season back in December. In other words, I don't think he'll be buying.

Even if Sabean is buying, Gary Brown isn't the prospect he once was. Brown is a Quad-A player if I ever saw one, slashing .244/.304/.421 this year in Fresno in the PCL of all places. He has 12 homers and 12 steals, but he also has 96 strikeouts in 97 games (a 24 percent strikeout rate compared to 16 percent in 2012) and he's been caught stealing nine times. He's supposedly a strong defender, but all of this adds up to him being a career fourth outfielder.

As for Williamson, he may never even reach Triple-A. At 23, he's a year younger than Brown, but is currently at San Jose in High-A. He is slashing .280/.364/.480 with 17 home runs and seven steals. Those numbers look nice and all, but he's also struck out 94 times in 98 games at a 25 percent clip and he's walked just 35 times. At 23, he should be hitting much better at such a low level. It would appear to me he's simply crushing young pitchers' mistakes and flailing at their good stuff. But to be fair, you can't really scout stats.

Suffice it to say, if Santana is dealt for such a package, I'll be sorely disappointed. I'd rate it even below what the Cubs received for Feldman.

From my point of view, the Cubs got three Major League contributors for Garza, who is a facsimile of Santana. Olt probably won't live up to the hype that surrounded him last season but as long as Moustakas is in the majors, he won't be the worst hitting third baseman in the game (although Olt's glove is probably inferior). Edwards might flame out (he's been assigned to the Cubs' Double-A affiliate) but if he doesn't could be exciting, and Grimm is what he is, but he is capable of holding down a 25-man roster spot, which at the right price is valuable in itself.

Now that Garza is out of the equation for any suitors the Rangers were bidding against, the price for Santana, if anything, should be higher. The A's were rumored to be in the mix. Maybe that was Billy Beane working his magic to raise the Rangers' bid for Garza and that wouldn't surprise me.

If the A's are genuinely looking for another starter, though, a straight up swap of Santana for second baseman Grant Green would seem reasonable to me. Green is currently up with the A's and hitless in his first 12 big league at bats, but they can't all be Yasiel Puig.

In Green, the Royals would get a 6'3", 180 pound second baseman with a shortstop background, who would erase the memory of Chris Getz and Johnny Giavotella. Green has averaged nearly 14 home runs a season (including only a half season this year, obviously) the last four years and he stole 13 bases last year. His strikeout rate the last two years, both in Triple-A, is 16 percent although his walk rate is below 10 percent. So maybe he would carry over some of Getz and Giavotella's shortcomings, but he at least has some power potential, he is a former first round pick, and is under team control for some time.

I don't know who would say "no" to that deal. I presume it would be Beane because I'm sure he would feel confident about getting Santana for someone like Jemile Weeks instead or get more than just Santana in return for Green. In which case, I'd gladly include Getz/Giavotella and/or a reliever and/or pay the rest of Santana's contract. If that's too rich for Beane's blood, there are other options out there.

Such a deal is just a phone call away with another club. Well, and the Royals need somebody on their end of the line savvy enough to pull it off, which sadly they do not.

Fire Dayton Moore

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Could it be?

On the evening of Sunday, December 9, 2012, I received a text message, informing me the Royals had shipped off their most valuable minor league asset for a rental pitcher, a Quad-A pitcher, and a player to be named later.

I was livid. Burning a top prospect on a rental is one thing, but why give up more assets to add dead weight? Expensive dead weight at that. I sat with my dad in his living room, neither of us able to speak. Dumbfounded by the unthinkable coming to fruition. I couldn't wait to read columns lambasting GM Dayton Moore for such a foolish move — not just shortsighted, foolish. I expected sports radio stations to have phones ringing off their hooks from callers protesting the trade. If I had woken up on Monday and found the skyline of Kansas City engulfed in flames, I wouldn't have wondered as to why.

Instead, other than writers such as Rany Jazayerli, most opinion pieces on the move were measured in their criticism. Some analysts I highly respect, such as Baseball Prospectus' Jason Parks, defended the Royals' side of the deal. My dad said reviews of the trade on sports radio were mixed. I'm fairly certain not even a match was lit in Jackson County in the hours following the deal. I began to wonder if I had overreacted. Maybe I judged Moore too harshly. I took a step back and reassessed the situation.

Upon further review, I dug in. The trade made no sense. Not even James Shields could catapult the Royals into a contender. Wade Davis and the player who turned out to be Elliot Johnson sure as hell weren't going to point the Royals in a positive direction. Whatever good Shields might do would no doubt be undone by the loss of Myers, who could have replaced Jeff Francoeur by June (Myers hit his fourth home run in 27 games on Friday — Frenchy hit 3 in 59 games and added approximately nothing else whatsoever other than a big, toothy grin and his legendary "clubhouse presence"), the inclusion of Davis on the pitching staff, and loss of all the years of inexpensive club control of Jake Odorizzi, who at the absolute worst, would have been no worse than Davis.

I'm not a sabermetric expert, but it didn't take one to realize Moore had made a mistake that would set the franchise back a number of years. Yet, the outrage was nowhere to be found. So, could it be, a transaction involving two of the smallest, least significant players in the organization turns out to be what breaks the floodgates wide open?

Thursday afternoon news broke that Johnny Giavotella was optioned with Everett Teaford to make roster space for Kelvin Herrera and none other than Chris Getz. Mr. Jazayerli documented the nonsense of this roster move quite well on his Twitter feed.

Giavotella was given two weeks, 10 games, and 34 at bats to prove he was worth a 25-man roster spot. He managed only seven hits, two doubles, a couple walks to sport a .206/.289/.265 slash line. Well, what can you do? He's obviously not Yasiel Puig. Might as well toss him back on the scrap heap. Getz had clearly fixed his impatient approach, after all, failing to draw a single walk while at Triple-A. Yet, he made up for it by reinforcing the fact he also has no power whatsoever, going homerless as well.

This time, Rany was not alone in his crusade to criticize Moore. Twitter blew up. I did my best to capitalize and draw traffic to the site and our petition, which you can sign here. Fans were beginning to mobilize. This site attracted close to 200 views. Our Twitter followers for @FireDaytonMoore increased by almost a third. Our number of signatures for our petition to save baseball in Kansas City, which again you can sign here, doubled. As I write this, we're merely 64 signatures away from reaching our goal.

All over a 5'8" second baseman with a career slash line of .206/.289/.333 in 393 career at bats. It's not how I pictured it happening, but I'll take it.

And I get it, Giavotella is like the backup quarterback on a crappy football team. Fans have seen enough of the incumbent starter. Any other option represents a better option. But when it comes down to it, Giavotella and Getz might as well be the same player — a player who has no business playing in the big leagues. For example, even Dan Uggla and his .200 average and NL-leading 116 strikeouts has a .315 OBP and 18 home runs. Giavotella and Getz's inability to get on base is matched only by their complete absence of pop. And they're no defensive wizards, either.

The problem really isn't that Moore didn't give Giavotella enough playing time. It isn't that Moore brought Getz back into the fold too soon. The problem is it's almost August and Moore is trying to con Royals fans into believing the Royals can still contend when he can't even put a Major League second baseman on the field. In reality, the Royals haven't had an acceptable second baseman since Mike Aviles in 2010 or Alberto Callaspo in 2009 and neither player is headed to the Royals Hall of Fame any time soon. Mark Grudzielanek held down the position the three years prior to that — coinciding with Moore coming to the Royals.

So what we have here is a GM who has had a glaring need at a position since his first day on the job. More than seven years later, fans are living and dying with Chris Getz and Johnny Giavotella because Moore has failed — failed miserably — at filling that need. At no point along the way did he come close, aside from his back-to-back one-year wonders.

And he still expects people to believe him when he says the Royals are poised for a second half breakout? Most notably, his boss?

Unlike a majority of Royals fans, I won't blame David Glass completely for the state the Royals are in. He has provided the funds. Unfortunately, he's entrusted them with someone incapable of making sound decisions with that funding and every day Moore is left to run things, the further he will set the franchise back.

The Royals beat the Tigers tonight. La-di-da. Ervin Santana tossed a gem tonight. That's actually significant. Whoever loses out on the Matt Garza sweepstakes would have to be interested in Santana, who is a free agent after the season.

If Moore fails to cash in on Santana's trade value to blindly cling to postseason hopes that won't be actualized, fans had better not stop revolting. What Moore does with his second base situation is inconsequential. Holding onto Santana and letting him walk for nothing after the season is a fireable offense. One of many to choose from for Moore.

Let your voice be heard.

Fire Dayton Moore

The negative 2%

How cool is Jonah Keri? Super intelligent. Has already written an incredible book on a super intelligent MLB team (hint: not the Royals). And he will interact with almost anyone on Twitter.

On Monday, I noticed him responding to questions regarding what teams should do as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. Naturally, I wanted to ask about the Royals. On one hand they're 43-49, but on the other they're only eight games out in the AL Central. But back on the one hand, they've lost five straight and seven of their last 10. OK, I'm struggling to come up with anything else on the other hand that doesn't have something to do with the Athletics overcoming second half deficits. But back to the one hand, the Royals will play their first seven games post-break against the Tigers and Orioles and will play 44 games in 44 days from late July to early September, so I'm sure that won't be a train wreck.

That being the case, even Jonah Keri didn't have a straightforward solution for the Royals:

You see, that's all Dayton Moore accomplished over the winter. He raised the Royals from the American League sewer all the way up to swirling around a flushing toilet (Congratulations, by the way, to the Royals' three All-Stars in Flushing, NY!) but refusing to go down, threatening to clog the stool at best.

In a way, the Royals are in the worst position of all. Face it, there's zero chance they reach the postseason. But they're just good enough and have been so pitiful in the past, the front office is scared to sell off spare parts and push back the "window" Moore crudely constructed by trading for James Shields.

Prior to the Shields trade, 2014 was a reasonable opening for a window to compete. Wil Myers would have been entering his first full season in the bigs. Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez would all have another year of experience (for better or worse with Moose). Alex Gordon and Billy Butler would still be around. The club would have had ample money to spend. And with any luck, the development staff would have done its job and produced some — any — arms for the rotation. Meanwhile the Tigers would have aged, the White Sox would be bottoming out, the Twins would be rebuilding and the Indians would be a wild card.

I'm not uncovering anything new in saying that was supposed to be the plan all along until Moore panicked over his job security. Now the Royals are out of contention and, barring a handful of unforeseen prospects emerging by next season to help at second base, the outfield and the rotation, the team will be in the same boat in 2014. Remember, few impact players are expected to be available through free agency. Any Royals prospect of value for trade is in the low minors now. And by the time the Royals are out of contention and elect to deal Shields, they will recover merely a fraction of what they lost to get him and that's assuming he's still healthy and still pitching well.

So 2015 is technically the start of the window. But wait, Shields will be gone one way or another. By 2016, Billy Butler might be gone and the club will feel the effects of Moore whiffing on first round pick Hunter Dozier this year. By 2017, Alex Gordon* might be gone and the franchise will suffer from having a mid-first round pick in next year's draft, rather than an early-first round pick — another result of the damage done by Moore this year.

*I'm guessing Moore didn't budget for this either:

Because of one trade, the Royals aren't just in limbo for the rest of July. They're in limbo for the rest of the decade. Another decade, that is.

While I'm on the topic, I should mention Sam Mellinger wrote a great column for The Star about yet another small market team surpassing the Royals during Moore's tenure. Please read it here.

Mellinger mentioned the Pirates having the huevos to trade Nate McLouth at the peak of his career, even though it seemed he would have to remain a cornerstone if the team were to realistically compete. As it turned out, Pittsburgh couldn't have traded him at a better time and it has reaped the rewards.

So, as Jonah Keri and I discussed as in-depth as we could in 140 characters, Shields would be a prime trade chip this month. If Moore played his cards right and waited for a team desperate enough on July 31, he could probably get back as much as he gave up to the Rays. But doing so would signify throwing in the towel for 2014, thus putting his neck back on the chopping block, which we already know he doesn't have the integrity to do.

Instead, the Royals are left with one legitimate trade chip in Ervin Santana. He would fetch maybe one useful prospect. After that, like Keri said, maybe Chris Getz would fetch Yoenis Cespedes' batting gloves from the Home Run Derby. Maybe. I don't think any team would give up much for Jeremy Guthrie. What's worse, I'm sure Moore thinks he's actually a front end arm. The Royals have never been good at cashing in on relievers, unless you consider the pitcher formerly known as Leo Nunez for Mike Jacobs a success.

Of course, July trades have never really been the Royals' thing. You owe it to yourself to check that link out. Sums up the franchise nicely. Never buying, always selling, and bad at it. And if that truly was the Royals' best July trade, it wasn't made by Moore.

Not even someone who's used to having the answer knows what to do with the Royals at this point. Why is someone who clearly doesn't have the answers still running the franchise?

Fire Dayton Moore
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The Big Picture: MLB sucks at its job Pt. II

Sunday afternoon I was watching the Royals give away another game — their 49th loss of the season, compared to just 43 victories — and I thought to myself: "I wish there was something else to watch."

Then it hit me: "Oh yeah! The MLB Futures Game is on!"

Well, it was on, but I only caught the last 12 outs of the game. That was just enough time to see both Royals representatives, Miguel Almonte and Yordano Ventura, but looking at this from a broader scope, this is just as troubling as MLB's lack of internet self-awareness, which I wrote about last week.*

*It dawned on me after last week's post that Hunter Pence, whose official website still lists him as a Houston Astro, was a candidate for the Final Vote. He didn't stand much chance against Freddie Freeman and Yasiel Puig, but still. A player whose only hope of making the All-Star Game was based on his internet popularity doesn't even have an up-to-date official website.

What is the second most exciting day in the NFL's season besides the Super Bowl? The first round of the NFL Draft. What lifted the NBA out of the doldrums of the late 1990s/early 2000s? The influx of young talent in the form of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade. Fans appreciate wily veterans. They tune in for young, dynamic players.

Well, MLB's First-Year Player Draft doesn't conduce itself to must-see TV. College baseball isn't popular. High school baseball is a mystery. MLB.com, ESPN and Baseball America scouts aren't household names like Mel Kiper Jr. or Bill Simmons.

On top of that, NFL and NBA rookies make instant impacts. MLB draftees are thrown into the obscurity of the minor leagues. Only years later can they burst onto the national scene like a Mike Trout or Bryce Harper.

The Futures Game is the only realistic opportunity for baseball prospects to make a splash on a national scale. Why the hell is the game on in the middle of a Sunday afternoon while virtually every MLB team is also playing?

The Futures Game should be on at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN the Sunday before the All-Star Game every single year. Let every MLB team play in the afternoon and showcast the Futures Game in the evening. This should have happened years ago and it's a shame it probably hasn't even occurred to Bud Selig.

It would save diehard baseball fans from having to pick between watching their big league club or watching a game that happens just once every year. It would give baseball a chance to attract the more casual fans who probably aren't in front of their televisions in the afternoon. It would make the experience even more special to the players, who would play under the lights, rather than play in the afternoon like they do on get-away days.

The only obstacle I can think of is I think the celebrity softball game and maybe something else takes place after the Futures Game. My response to that is: So what?

I don't need to see the cast of "Grown Ups 2" scamper around a mini diamond in primetime. That event was made for a Sunday afternoon. Right up there with World's Strongest Man episodes from 1997.

Hold still, my All-Star Makeover is just getting started.

How about a skills competition? Hardest fastball. Strongest/most accurate outfield arm, Tom Emanski style. Fastest player from first to third. Catcher throwdowns to second base and pickoff throws to first and third. Infielder with the most range — sorry Derek Jeter. You can probably think of more off the top of your head.

MLB players shouldn't risk injury in a skills competition, you say? Fine. I don't need them. Keep some future stars around an extra day. Have two or three of them go head-to-head in their respective competition. Use the competitions to break up the monotony of the Home Run Derby.

Won't that make the Home Run Derby insufferably longer than it already is, you ask? No. Shorten the derby itself. Keep it at three rounds. Give them five outs apiece instead of 10. Or leave it at 10 outs but make it two rounds. I actually like that option better. Is there anything (excluding the "No Smoking" alert above every seat on an airplane) more unnecessary than the middle round of a Home Run Derby? If every player gets 10 outs, we don't need a second round to find out who deserves to go to the finals.

So, two rounds in the derby. Have half the skills competition before the first round and the second half before the finals. Start it at 7 p.m. ET and viewers will probably get to bed earlier than they do now. And happier.

They'll be happier because the derby itself will be more interesting in addition to being shorter because I'm still not done.

Enough of this "every home run is created equal" stuff. One that wraps around Pesky's Pole is not equal to one that lands in the San Francisco Bay. Give points based on seating tiers or decks in the outfield. Give bonus points for hitting certain ballpark landmarks. Fountain shot in Kansas City? Bonus point. Apple at Citi Field? Bonus point. Non-gang member at Dodgers Stadium? Bonus point.

Heck, let the players earn style points by calling their shot. If they call a foul pole shot and do it, just hand them the trophy and keys to a new Chevy Equinox right there. I would watch that and actually listen to Chris Berman regurgitate the same basic script he's used since the Reagan administration. Right now I have the derby on mute while listening to the Adam Carolla Show podcast and writing this post and texting and negotiating fantasy baseball trades.

And I'm basically the cutoff for generations that still care about the Home Run Derby. If this is all the attention I'm paying to it, it won't be long before the 18-35 demographic doesn't even register in the event's ratings.

At least the All-Star Game itself is flawless and above reproach.

Fire Dayton Moore
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