Dayton Moore Has Some Decisions to Make With the Royals

This past year was an amazing time for the Kansas City Royals. Dayton Moore’s plan of building a team based on speed, defense, a dominant bullpen and the ability to make contact stormed through the playoffs, falling just short in their quest to win the World Series. With a young core of players, and an enviable pipeline of talent soon to make an impact, the newly minted American League Champions appear to have a bright future ahead of them.

However, the Royals and Moore will have tough decisions to make this offseason. James Shields and Nori Aoki are free agents, and the Royals are expected to decline Billy Butler‘s option. Yet, even with these expected departures, the Royals still have the nucleus of their team together, and would appear to be poised to make another return to the playoffs next season.

Or, at least, that would appear to be the case theoretically. As it turns out, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reported that Dayton Moore is expected to listen to trade offers for three of his more expensive players – Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. While Hosmer and Moustakas are not expensive presently, they are both heading into arbitration, which would involve a significant pay raise in the next couple of years.

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Call to the Pen

While it is likely that Moore will need to make some trades, those moves may be more likely to involve the bullpen. Greg Holland is also arbitration eligible, and while Wade Davis was stellar in a set up role, he has three team options worth a combined $25 Million set to come due, beginning with the 2015 season. While it would weaken the Royals bullpen, a trade of Davis or Holland would, at least, be considered somewhat expected and a part of the process (no Moore related pun intended).

A trade of Alex Gordon or Eric Hosmer, meanwhile, could send the wrong message to the fanbase. Even if the intent behind such a move would not be to tear down the team due to an increase in salary, trading players that are considered by the fanbase a part of the core moving forward could invoke memories of the Miami Marlins after 1997 and 2003. As David Glass indicated that more money could be made available for the right player at the trade deadline, trading off those higher priced players could disenfranchise a fanbase that had started to, once again, become invested in the Royals.

This offseason, Dayton Moore will have a few holes to fill and some interesting decisions to make. Hopefully, these moves prove to keep the Royals in contention.