Crown Gems: Dayton Moore, Nicholas Francis, Alex Gordon

Included in this quick edition of Crown Gems:  Dayton Moore contract extension, Nicholas Francis suspension, and Alex Gordon.

Dayton Moore has been rapidly losing support from Royals fans and the Royals blogosphere for a while now.  When posts like Poll: When did Dayton Moore lose your confidence exist over at Royals Review, clearly confidence has eroded.  Apparently someone still believes in the job Moore is doing if what Jerry Crasnick is reporting is true.  The timing seems a bit odd to be talking about an extension.  After all Moore isn’t a college coach who needs to be under contract past next year to bring in recruits or anything.  I can see him jumping to another GM position with another team down the road, but it doesn’t look like the 2010 Royals are going to vault Dayton to such an opportunity.  A “wait and see approach” might be the more prudent one to take at this point.  With all the puzzling and curious moves Dayton and Trey have made since then end of the 2008 season, I suppose it would be fitting for Glass to take the same approach.

Burlington Bees OF-Nicholas Francis received a 50 game suspension yesterday after his 2nd violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Abuse Program.  Francis was selected by the Royals 15th round of the 2006 draft after playing for Pensacola JC in Florida.  Since joining the organization he has played in 113 games and hit 0.286/.343/.471 over the course of 447 plate appearances.  Despite decent minor league numbers, he is now 23 and has 2 strikes against him.  Click here to read more.

Over at The Hardball Times, Craig Brown wrote and posted Making their mark which is definitely worth a read.  Alex Gordon is among the 8 players revisited, which makes it noteworthy for Royals fans, but the rest of the list serves as a poignant reminder of how difficult it is to find and develop elite talent.