DMIT - #7 vs. #10 and #8 vs. #9

The final matchups of Round 1.  The excitement is palpable.

#7 Melky Cabrera signs a one-year contract vs. #10 Jason Smith acquired

Melky was a last minute inclusion.  He's been pretty bad for a while now, but that didn't stop Moore from giving him $1.25M.  Former brave, not very good, worse than at least one in-house option.  At least he's not very expensive.  I can't remember how Jason Smith was acquired and I don't care.  He was worthless.  He couldn't get on base, his defense was poor and his "pop" was too infrequent to have value.  But he only made league minimum and the Royals had virtually no middle IF depth.

#7 Jorge de la Rosa traded to Colorado vs. #10 Doug Waechter signed to a one-year contract

Jorge de la Rosa hadn't pitched very well for the Royals, so Moore traded him in late April 2008.  The trade was for a PTNBL, but it is possible that the Royals and Rockies agreed and JDLR and Ramon Ramirez would be the PTBNL in their respective trades.  JDLR went on to pitch well for the Rockies, totalling 7.8 WAR in three seasons.  The reason that this is a #7 seed and not a much higher seed is that almost nobody saw this coming.  In fact, a month before the trade, JDLR had been waived by the Royals.  Any MLB team could have had him for free, but nobody claimed him.  Waechter was signed for something like $600K guaranteed and was a pretty pointless FA signing who fought injuries and pitched poor for the Royals in 2009.

#8 Alberto Callaspo traded for Sean O'Sullivan and Will Smith vs. #9 Brian Anderson signed to a one-year contract

Callaspo was a pretty good IFer for the Royals, but he was going to start getting kind of expensive, so Moore traded him for a low-upside #5 SP and a low-upside prospect.  After signing both Rick Ankiel and Scott Podsednik, Moore signed another pointless, low-talent OFer in Brian Anderson for $700K before the 2010 season.  He was eventually outrighted to the minors and converted to a pitcher.

#8 Royals trade Erik Cordier for Tony Pena, Jr. vs. #9 Miguel Olivo is signed to a one-year contract plus mutual option (first signing)

Dayton Moore wisely decided that Angel Berroa had no business playing for a major league team, so he replaced him by acquiring Tony Pena, Jr.  TPJ stunk, but he was cheap and the Royals gave up little for him.  Cordier has fought injuries and largely mediocre minor league performance.  Despite the fact that the Royals had a cheaper catcher in John Buck who was just as good, Moore signed Miguel Olivo initially to a $2.015M contract.  In that year, he didn't perform well.

#8 Danny Gutierrez traded for Manny Pina and Tim Smith vs. #9 Jason LaRue plus cash acquired by trade for a PTNBL

Danny Gutierrez had a breakout season in 2008, but then suffered an injury in 2009.  The rehab of that injury led to a conflict/piss contest between Gutierrez, his agent and the Royals.  So Moore traded a good pitching prospect for two lesser prospects.  LaRue was acquired nearly for free, but then had probably the worst season in his career.

#8 Jeremy Affeldt and Denny Bautista for Ryan Shealy and Scott Dohmann vs. #9 Mark Teahen and cash traded for Chris Getz and Josh Fields

The Royals had 1 1/2 years of team control over Affeldt remaining and he was starting to get expensive.  And Bautista had been a wash out.  And since the Royals needed some hitters, Moore traded them for Ryan Shealy who had been a decent 1B prospect.  I thought it looked good at the time, but Shealy never panned out and was only given limited playing time behind Ross Gload for some reason.  Affeldt eventually became a good lefty reliever.  Mark Teahen was about to get more expensive than his merely ok production was worth so Moore traded him for Getz and Fields.  The idea seemed pretty good, but Getz and Fields look like crap.