I am very, very excited about the direction I've seen Royals management taking the past few weeks.  Some might argue that it's long overdue, and they might be right, but I'm content to just enjoy the growing suspicion I get that Dayton Moore is going balls to the wall to win, starting next year. 

Many of you will look on with cynicism and suspicion, and I don't blame you.  After all, we're Royals fans, we've earned a healthy amount of cynicism.  But I implore you all to not lose sigh of the significance of these moves.

A franchise that for too long had allowed abstract and improvable perceptions to trump statistics benched a player they for whom they traded in favor of a guy who didn't project well but had ripped the cover off the ball at every stop in the minors. 

A franchise that for too long has valued washed-up and/or never-has-been veterans to steal playing time from young players with potential benched a veteran catcher who is well-regarded for a 21 year-old prospect.

And now, a franchise gunshy after rightfully giving up on players like Jorge de la Rosa and Philip Humber only to watch them succeed elsewhere gave up the ghost on Kyle Davies to make room for the aforementioned catching prospect.

So now the question is, what next? 

I don't think anyone would argue that our biggest need in the organization is top of the rotation help at the major league level.  This is not a surprise, as 75% of the league needs top of the rotation help every year, but I really and truly believe the Royals are a true #1 and another young, middle-of-the-rotation guy with major league experience away from winning the AL Central NEXT YEAR.

So, how do we get there?

Simple, we use the currency that we have: prospects.

Obviously, I'd rather see the remaining highly-regarded prospects we have on the 2012-2013 track succeed in the majors wearing a Royals uniform, but we've known (or should have) that there would come a time when it made more sense to trade prospects for proven big-league talent than develop them ourselves -- that time is now.

So, I put forth the following hypothetical for discussion.

Mike Montgomery, Wil Myers, Louis Coleman and Jason Adam to the Dodgers for Clayton Kershaw.

Obviously, the number one sticking point is that the Dodgers would have to agree to trade Clayton Kershaw, but there have been rumors that they are at least taking offers and since the team is literally bankrupt, they might be motivated to maximize their return on him now while he's young and would represent a club-friendly contract to the acquiring  team.  As it stands, they may not even be able to afford to pay him league-minimum.

At first glance, we would be giving up quite a bit.  But when you consider at 23, he's younger than Zack Greinke, Ubaldo Jimenez and Matt Garza were at the time of their trades, has better numbers and is under team control until 2015, his value is clearly higher.

It sucks to give up guys like Myers and Montgomery, but you have to give in order to get, and at this point I believe it makes more since to parlay our 2012-2013 prospects to set us up to win at the major league level and focus on putting guys around Jake Odorizzi, Noel Arguelles, Cheslor Cuthbert and the rest of the 2014+ class.

So, putting aside whether or not this would be a good deal for the Dodgers, do you think it would be a good deal for the Royals.  Would you be willing to give up more?  What other < 25 proven starters might be available?  Are there any untouchables on the farm, or is everything fair game?  Discuss.