NewsTrade winds: Royals GM ready for action
Moore expects to be very aggeressive in trade talks
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
11/13/09 4:16 PM EST
KANSAS CITY -- Batten down the hatches and get ready for the trade winds on the S.S. Royal.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore is determined to be much more aggressive in making trades than in signing free agents.
"We always try to be," he said. "[Free agency] has never been our first choice. But if you're going to make impactful deals, you have to have players either in your system or on your Major League team that people want to exchange for high-level talent in return. Was that the case in the past? Not necessarily. So we had no choice if we were going to improve our team."
Whether or not the Royals have enough players to pull off advantageous trades now remains to be seen. At least they seem to be stockpiling inventory.
Already, third baseman Josh Fields and second baseman Chris Getz have come over from the White Sox in the deal for Mark Teahen. At those positions, respectively, the Royals already have Alex Gordon and Alberto Callaspo, not to mention all-purpose Willie Bloomquist, who's probably best at second base.
Callaspo, mistakenly linked to the Dodgers in trade rumors, might be a keeper because the .300 hitter also fits into the Royals' budget for next year. He fell just days short of qualifying for salary arbitration this time.
The Royals also might have some trade possibilities in pitchers Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies, catcher John Buck or first baseman Mike Jacobs among others.
But free agents? Moore has been there, done that.
"I should just play a record every year, because I just play the same thing," Moore said. "Look for internal options first, trade scenarios second, free agency third. Nobody wants to put all their eggs into free agency, because it's a proven vehicle for failure when you try to build your team on free agency."
Now he was warming to his subject.
"The more you deal in free agency, the more you're going to fail. There's a reason players are available," Moore said.
"Yeah, get [Mark] Teixeria, get CC [Sabathia], get [A.J.] Burnett, OK. It takes no skill, not talent, no vision to predict the success of players [of] that caliber. But the other 80, 90 percent, it's very difficult. There's got to be some luck involved."
The Royals' recent high-priced free agents have had mixed results: good work from Gil Meche, up-and-down success with outfielder Jose Guillen and uneven outings by reliever Kyle Farnsworth.
With multiple choices at various positions at this point, Moore can't guess what the makeup of the lineup will be by next spring.
"Because there are only a few guys on our team that have stepped up and said, 'I'm a very good player and I'm going to play,' " Moore said. "There aren't that many guys who have earned that opportunity and David [DeJesus] is one, Billy [Butler] is one, Callaspo is someone you can say is going to be in the lineup every day. And Alex Gordon is going to be a special player; I think he's going to have a breakout season once this [hip surgery] is behind him."
There's been a possibility raised that Gordon might move from third base to first with Butler again assuming the designated hitter role.
"It's not something we've discussed. We've got a lot of potential scenarios and we have to decide where those guys are going to play," Moore said. "It's a natural assumption probably because Alex didn't move that very well off the hip but I'm quite confident that Alex is going to be an above-average defensive player wherever he ends up playing. But right now he's our third baseman."
According to figures released by the Commissioner's Office, the Royals spent a total of $81,740,669 on their total Major League payroll last season. The Royals don't figure to expand on that. They began the season at a reported $70,519,333.
"What we want to do is leave some room for some potential moves during the season," Moore said. "Last year we went for it. We felt that we were fortunate to make some trades that made sense for us. We tried some free agents, and we felt that our team was going to play better, be more competitive in the division and we felt the division was more winnable. So we were very aggressive and we were very fortunate that ownership recognized that vision and supported it and allowed us to be very aggressive with the payroll. It didn't work. There was only one thing that was impossible for us to prepare for and that was injuries."
He mentioned specifically the early-season injuries that stopped Gordon, shortstop Mike Aviles and center fielder Coco Crisp. Aviles is due back next spring, while Crisp has become a free agent.
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
