As much as Dayton Moore deserves criticism for the ML team, the minors system is getting better. If we miss on Harper, we will still have good picks, given the money dedicated to the draft. And honestly, if we drafted Harper, we would not be able to spread money around in later parts of the draft next year.

As far as the process goes, it is hard to know what will happen. Some good things are happening on our team right now:

1) The Royals are looking at several pitching prospects for starters/bullpen. Other than the $$ dedicated to Soria, Cruz and Farnsworth, the rest of the pen is flexible. I expect them to add one arm from outside the organization (hopefully for a low price), but it seems like 4-5 positions are up for grabs. Rosa looks from his couple of appearances like he might stick next year. Marte is less likely, but we will see.

2) I think it is clear that Yabuta and Bale are gone next year. Even if the organization wanted them, the cost would be too high for such a tight salary cap. I know it is easy to beat up on DM, but I cannot believe that this will happen. This means we need 2 lefties for the pen. Hughes and DiNardo are the likely candidates. They will probably pick up a third lefty arm for competition (maybe keep Chen around too), but they have played their way to an audition next year it seems. If the bullpen was Soria, Cruz, Farnsworth, Rosa, DiNardo, Hughes, Tejeda, this would not be bad. It has the makings of an ML average bullpen.

3) Robinson Tejeda will be on our team (or will net something valuable for our team). The only question: will he be in the rotation, or in the bullpen. Either move is fine at this point.

4) It is also becoming clear that, assuming Banny and Meche are OK (which is likely), then our starter depth is pretty good. We got a lot of candidates for the back end of the rotation, which gives the team a little flexibility in going to find a guy that can help on offense. But who do you trade? It seems right now, the choices of value would be Tejeda and Davies. There is always value to be had in trade for a guy who can go 5-6 at the back of the rotation and can, on occasion, put up great numbers. As a side note: can we get something out of Roman Colon?

5) The Butler. Enough said.

6) Mitch Maier is starting to play pretty well and hitting for a bit more power. This is also good, as it gives the team some options for making other roster moves. If they still like Gordon, Teahen is expendable. If not, they can also look at moving DDJ.

Now granted, some things are not looking so good: 1) We still do not seem to have the catching situation close to figured out. 2) Jacobs has decided to hit using the whole field (which may actually encourage the team to keep him). 3) Guillen will still be on this team. 4) Coco Crisp is a looming, yet very delicate, situation.

If DM can invest in a real bullpen arm, a defensive catcher, and cut down to one dead-weight DH type that cannot play a defensive position, then we have the pieces around to field an average team. Not a great team, but an average team. And right now, I will take average, hoping the play of some of our members will generate organizational value that can help us when the big moves need to be made in 2011 or 2012.

the nickname “Mr. September.”