Royals Gaining Ground

There was some angst expressed by some Royals fans as the recent Major League Baseball trade deadline passed over the moves the club made. Some referred to KC's actions as "a fire sale." Ridiculous.

I personally commented on this after some Facebook fans were all in a tizzy. The trade that seemed to bother the most was the deal of Scott Podsednik to the Dodgers. The Royals also dealt Rick Ankiel to the Braves. Both of these make sense. Trading away older players who don't figure into your future plans for prospects is wise.

These are not the old Royals, who traded away Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, Carlos Beltran and other budding stars for prospects. Today's Royals are keeping their budding stars and trading away parts that aren't in future plans for more talent to stock the pipeline. All these pieces will begin to mature together at some point. But don't just take my word for it.

"Looking at how they're building," says one NL GM, "they can start to be very interesting the second half of next season (2011)."

Peter Gammons filed an article on the MLB.com website which recounted the travails of the Royals, Pirates and Indians, smaller market teams who have had success in the past, struggled, and had bad luck, but may be on the way back.

Here's the meat of the article for Royals fans:

If the Indians can develop a couple of their pitchers and avoid the plague of physical misfortune that has made 2010 so difficult, they can quickly be back in the competitive AL Central. It may be a season longer for the Royals, but by this time next season they will have a year's experience for Gordon in right field and Kila Ka'aihue at first base and DH, Billy Butler is an All-Star hitter and their two best prospects, first baseman Eric Hosmer and third baseman Mike Moustakas, should be ready for the Majors.

(KC GM Dayton) Moore is cautious. "I'd rather be a little late bringing a kid to the Majors than too early," he says. But Hosmer and Moustakas are impact, character players.

"Wherever Moustakas plays, his team wins," says Moore, who has seen his third baseman jump a teammate for complaining about his manager pinch-hitting for him. Farther on down the road are athletic outfielders Jarrod Dyson and Derrick Robinson, as well as 19-year-old catcher William Myers. Their top pick in June, Long Beach shortstop Christian Colon, should be quick to Kansas City."

On the surface it looks like there's one too many first basemen/DH types in the immediate future, but I guess they'll get that sorted out. The bottom line is it appears, from a baseball standpoint, that soon everything will be up to date in Kansas City.