Trade Dud-line Special

In quite possibly the least surprising trade of D Moore's career, the Royals shipped Jonathan Broxton to Cinci for two players who at this point are capable of throwing the ball. That's it. Of course Dayton had to admit that he didn't get what he wanted...

“We tried to focus on bringing back a starting pitcher who could be in our rotation today,” general manager Dayton Moore admitted. “Or if not today, certainly next year. It just didn’t materialize for us.”

The going rate for two months of J Broxton was not worthy of a starting major league pitcher; Texas decided they didn't need Broxton that much. So apparently they settled for...

"...two pitchers that we like a great deal,” Moore said. “They’re at the upper levels, and we targeted close-to-ready major-league pitching as we possibly could. It was the deal that made the most sense and put us in the best position to move forward.”

Simple as that, move on. In an offseason that featured trading one of the best hitters in baseball for the worst pitcher in baseball and giving $13 mil to one of the worst everyday players in baseball, this is the highlight of Dayton's offseason. Broxton delayed the inevitable of Greg Holland becoming the closer while doing an adequate job of subbing for Joakim and in the end the Royals gained some organizational depth. Not trading Broxton would have obviously been idiotic, so Moore did the best he could and the Royals are probably better off for having made a nice by low acquisition like Broxton. So, good job Dayton, something went right this offseason.

It would have been great to be in the position of Pittsburgh looking to add players and make a run, but moving on is important too. It's been a bad year and not much can happen to change that. Now the Royals take their medicine and try to do something positive, starting with wining a few games.

Maybe next year will be our turn.