Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore is going for it, and he's not happy that he's taking heat for his approach.

Moore acquired former All-Star James Shields and fellow right-hander Wade Davis from Tampa Bay in a six-player deal Sunday that sent top prospects Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi, along with two other minor leaguers, to the Rays.

Multiple media outlets have blasted the move, saying the Royals gave up too much. ESPN.com's Keith Law wrote that "the deal reeks of a GM feeling pressure to improve short-term performance to keep his job, which is a terrible situation for any executive both personally and for the way it can inhibit his ability to make rational decisions."

"To me, that's insulting," Moore told USA Today Sports on Monday. "That's very insulting. Very, very insulting. I don't get too bent up about criticism, and I want to take the high road here, but that's insulting my integrity."

The Royals haven't made the playoffs since 1985, even though the AL Central has looked very winnable over the years. The Royals -- 23rd in ERA last season -- dealt for arms from the Rays, the team with baseball's best ERA.

Still, many believe Myers -- who batted .314 with 37 home runs and 109 RBIs in 134 games at Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha -- was too big a piece to surrender. Law wrote: "This looks very much like the deal that, barring something completely unexpected, will be the move that brings Dayton Moore's tenure in Kansas City, one marked by massive improvement in the team's farm system, to an end."

Moore, who has been the Royals' GM since 2006, said he's not making moves to keep his job.

"If something happened, I couldn't get another job in baseball? Is that what people think?'' he said, according to USA Today Sports.

The Royals were 72-90 last season and haven't had a winning season since 2003, but Moore is banking on a revamped veteran rotation to turn things around. In addition to their trade with the Rays, the Royals acquired 29-year-old right-hander Ervin Santana from the Los Angeles Angels and signed free-agent right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, 33, to a three-year contract.

"When you can acquire a pitcher like James Shields and Wade Davis, we have to do it, because that's what we've committed to our team -- we've committed to our organization," Moore said after the trade. "It's important that we start winning games."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.