I think we all have figured out this year that our offseason, minus adding free agent Jonathan Broxton, was quite possibly one of the worst in history. Maybe just not the Royals history but MLB history. Trading Melky Cabrera who was an All-Star and one of the best hitters in the NL for Jonathan Sanchez who made 12 starts before we realized we got screwed. Add to that Bruce and Frenchy each got multiple year deals and we got back Yuni who reminded us why he is as bad as he is. We traded for Humberto Quintero and Jason Bourgeois who neither one are on the team right now. (Qunitero cut and Bourgeois probably driving back and forth from Omaha to KC)

I know they could have done pretty much anything else and it would have looked better, but the Broxton trade got me thinking about how we hurt ourselves more then ever this year by not having those trade pieces. Guys like Alberto Callaspo, Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Aviles, even Jose Guillen. Since another wild card spot was added you have teams that are usually sellers like the Orioles, A's and Blue Jays who if they aren't buying they certainly aren't going to be selling. Simple economics means that now there are less players on the market which means that the price goes up. We see with Broxton, this could be now the new price with the extra hope to get in the playoffs for a rental player.

If the Royals had a couple more of these players, we could have beefed our pitching prospects big time and maybe even won a few more games. If the Royals would have spent a little money they could have gotten guys like Ben Sheets, Chris Young, Erik Bedard, maybe a backup catcher like Kelly Shoppach or Gerald Laird would have brought some return.

The lack of spending and little imagination of Dayton Moore and Co. not only gave us a season full of disappointment, but it hurt our future.