The 7 best MLB Trade Deadline deals in KC Royals history

2012: Dayton Moore grabs a pitcher from Colorado

By 2012, the Royals were emerging from the depths of the franchise’s most ignominious seasons with real hope for the future. Those hopes included such future stars as Sal Perez, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, and BIlly Butler already at the major league level.

General manager Dayton Moore saw a chance to address the perennial need for pitching, and struck a deal with the Colorado Rockies that helped both immediately and in the ascendant seasons to come. At the cost of pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, Moore got Jeremy Guthrie.

Guthrie immediately jumped into the rotation. He went 5-3 in 14 starts over the final two months of the season, was 15-12 in 33 starts in 2013, then in 2014 went 13-11 as the Royals won the AL pennant. He made one start against Baltimore in the ALCS, allowing just one run in five innings,  but did not get a decision.

He was 1-1 in two World Series starts against the Giants.

Guthrie made 24 more starts in 2015, going 8-8 with a 5.95 ERA before largely losing his starting role down the stretch to another trade deadline acquisition.

And who was that?