This is the first entry of what could end up being a beautiful relationship. Since this is a blog dedicated to the Kansas City Royals, I’m going to stick with the theme even if Dayton Moore decides to give the blogging world absolutely nothing to blog about. As a Kansas City Royals fan, you know this happens all too often. Shall we begin?

I’d like to start by explaining my credentials as a Royals fan. I mean, how else are you going to take this blog about a franchise that couldn’t be serious, seriously. Right? Exactly. I was born in October 1979 (which we all know has been the loneliest month as a Royals fan since 1985) and we were fresh off the heels of a second place finish in the American League Western Division. Now, for you younger fans that sounds like a pretty decent finish, but it was actually a decline. The Royals had gone to the ALCS the 3 previous years and lost all 3 to the New York Yankees (I bet you didn’t know that the Royals/Yankees rivalry was one of the most exciting in baseball in the late 1970’s did ya?). So years went on and since my family was originally from Kansas City I sort of inherited the Royals as my own personal baseball team. I lived in Hawaii for a good portion of my youth so I didn’t make it to as many games as I would have liked. My first game was in 1986 against the Yankees. We lost. It was devastating, but it spawned a new love with frosty malts. The kind that you eat with that little wooden peanut. You know what I’m talking about. So the Royals and I grew up together. I grew more passionate about the team as years went by and they grew worse…and worse…and worse. I’ve been there from when we hired Billy Gardner to replace Dick Howser through our current guy, Trey Hillman. Which brings me to the mess we, as Royals fans, must deal with.

I was very excited when I heard we had hired Dayton Moore as our GM. He came from a rich pedigree in Atlanta where they built a dynasty through good ‘ole drafting and developing. None of this “hey, here’s $20 million a year, come play for us” mentality that’s stricken some of the most storied franchises in the league (this includes you Red Sox fans. If the Yankees are Hitler, you’re Stalin, just sayin’). The Royals desperately needed a GM that believed in the power of a healthy and stable farm system. Allard Baird completely destroyed what the Royals had built in the Herk Robinson years. Between the trades of Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran and Jermaine Dye the Royals have absolutely nothing to show for that today. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. All three of these guys helped a team at least make it to the playoffs and two of them (Damon and Dye) were important cogs in winning their respective teams championship (Damon with the Red Sox in 2004 and Dye for the White Sox in 2006). Here’s what we got in return for Johnny Damon (and Mark Ellis):

Roberto Hernandez: An over-the-hill closer who had recently played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In his two years with the Royals he compiled 54 saves with a less than stellar 4.23 ERA. By the 2003 season he was playing in Atlanta. By the way, this guy was the centerpiece of the Royals end of the deal.

Angel Berroa: He spent the first two years after the deal in the minors and emerged in 2003 to help the Royals reach a winning record since the strike-shortened 1994 season. Berroa was named Rookie of the Year beating out Hideki Matsui in the closest ROY race since the 1980 season. Pretty good start huh? Well don’t get too excited, these are the Royals we’re talking about. Berroa underachieved in an over-hyped 2004 season and between 2003-2005 boasted a mind-numbing 77 errors (the most by a starting American League shortstop, mind you). By 2008 he was traded to the Dodgers in an extremely uneventful manner.

A.J. Hinch: This guy did absolutely nothing. He was a catcher…and he has initials for a first name. Regardless, he’s managing the Diamondbacks now and may or may not be any good. Who knows?

As far as the Dye trade goes, we basically rolled over and let the A’s take over on this one. This is who we got in return for arguably one of the most potent bats the Royals have ever had:

Neifi Perez: I still shiver when I think about this guy. What a horrible baseball player. Now you may say “well he won a Gold Glove with the Rockies in 2000” and to that I say “Pokey Reese, Mike Hampton, Jay Bell, and *gasp* Chuck Knoblach”. Perez was a no good shortstop who played for the Rockies before they implemented the use of a humidifier for the baseballs used in Coors Field. He batted less than .250 and he cried about being a Royal. I was ecstatic when we let him go in to free-agency at the end of the 2002 season. Good riddance. *Just a quick side-note here, Baseball Prospectus compared Perez to Derek Jeter when this trade was made. Just thought I’d throw that out there.*

The Beltran trade was actually pretty decent considering he was in a contract year and any team trading for him would basically be renting him for the remainder of the season. If you recall, Baird said at the beginning of the season that he would see how the Royals fared before he made any decisions about trading Beltran. Well, on June 24, 2004 Baird pulled the trigger on what was supposed to be a franchise altering trade. What we got out of the deal:

John Buck: He was a top prospect in the Houston Astros organization and was thrust in to the starting lineup immediately after the trade. He replaced an ailing Benito Santiago (who was recovering from a broken hand) and…drum roll please…wasn’t too bad. He ended the year with 12 bombs and 30 RBI’s, but hit only .235. Yikes. He continued that pace for the next few years and had a quasi breakout year in 2007 when he led the Royals in HR’s with 18. 18! That’s the most home runs an individual playing for the Royals in the 2007 season had. 18. I’m literally wiping away a tiny tear thinking about that embarrassing statistic. Anyway, in Bucks five seasons with the Royals he never hit higher than .247 and he had one of the worst percentages in the major leagues when it came to throwing out base runners. Nice. Buck was recently released and signed by the Toronto Blue Jays. I don’t envy the Toronto Blue Jays.

Mark Teahen: Teahen was supposed to be the gem of this deal. He was a major player in the book “Moneyball” which detailed how Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane competed with a mid-market team in a high-market league. The Royals actually took it slow with this guy. He was a corner stone for our future. We wanted him to develop a little more before we threw him in to the trenches. He debuted as the starting third baseman in 2005 and had a pretty lackluster rookie year hitting a very John Buck-ish .240 with 7 homers and 55 RBI’s. 2006, on the other hand, was a break out year for Mark. He started the season off in typical Royals fashion hitting .190 with a pair of home runs through May 4. The Royals demoted him to Omaha and recalled him a month later (sound familiar Billy Butler?). Now, I’m not sure what happened to Teahen while he was in Omaha, but he came back to the majors like he was possessed by a beast! In July alone he hit 7 homers which is unheard of if you were a jersey branded with a Royals logo. He finished the season on September 8 because of shoulder surgery, but he led the Royals in home runs with 18 (there’s that crummy number again) to go along with 69 RBI’s and a very nice .290 batting average. There were high hopes for 2006 (in fact, I drafted him

pretty early in my fantasy league that year because I was riding high on the hopes of a huge year from him). I’m not sure what happened during that offseason, but the beast that had previously inhabited Mark Teahen’s body went south for the winter and never came back. I’m not saying he was terrible, but he wasn’t what he was supposed to be. In 2007 he led the AL with 23 GIDP. That’s ridiculous. Well, we traded him this past offseason for Chris Getz and Josh Fields. I can’t wait to write about their short comings in a couple years. I would have rather kept Big Tractor. I’m going to miss him. *sniff*

Mike Wood: A waste of roster space. Also a waste of blogging space. He went 11-19 with a three year average ERA of 5.37. He retired from baseball in 2007. Way to go Allard.

So all in all Allard Baird ruined anything the Royals had going for them. We have nothing to show for trading these three superstars, but heartache and despair. And I don’t want to hear the same old, drawn out argument that the Royals couldn’t have kept these guys since they were going to cost too much because that argument isn’t valid. The Royals had every opportunity to keep those guys. They weren’t willing to bargain and pay the extra money it was going to take to make them happy in Kansas City. Instead, they spent their money on Juan Gonzalez and Benito Santiago and, God I hate to say this, Mike Sweeney. This is why I was excited for Dayton Moore. To be honest, I would have been equally happy with a monkey in a birthday hat. Anyone but Baird.

Moore has actually done a pretty decent job with what he’s had to work with. He started off in typical Royals fashion by trading the studly J.P. Howell for underachieving Joey Gathright (literally an African-American version of our new LF, Scott Podsednik). Beyond a hiccup here and there (Leo Nunez for Mike Jacobs, Ramon Ramirez for Coco Crisp, etc.) he’s done exceptionally well. The Ambiriosozixxxz$%.x.. Burgos (you try spelling his name, tough guy) for Brian Bannister deal was huge as well as the Billy Buckner for Alberto Callaspo trade. I’m a little confused with our signings of Podsednik and Jason Kendall this last offseason. I don’t know what Moore is trying to accomplish, but we won’t know until April 5 I guess. I wish them both the best of luck because as a Kansas Citian I know first hand that they will have to do much more than be average before this town will accept them as one of our own, loveable losers.

On a final note: Zack Greinke is a god. That is all.