Do you know what would be an awesome bullpen?

J.P. Howell – 59 games, 2.52 ERA, 15 saves.

Ramon Ramirez – 57 games, 2.67 ERA.

Leo Nunez – 60 games, 3.90 ERA, 16 Saves.

Mike MacDougal – 42 games, 3.10 ERA, 14 saves.

Jeremy Affeldt – 58 games, 1.85 ERA.

Joe Nelson – 42 games, 4.02 ERA.

Wow, too bad the Royals can never find guys like this! Wait a minute….

Turns out bullpen evaluation seer Dayton Moore traded all these guys away! Well, I’m sure he got a lot of value in return for that batch of "pitching currency!" Let’s see how much THOSE incoming guys are helping the Royals out now!

Hmm, seems the only ones left from those trades are Mike Jacobs and Coco Crisp. Yeah, they aren’t helping out so much this year. At least they are both leaving after this season. And they were kinda chea... Well, at least they are both leaving soon.

Well, I betcha Moore saved the team a bunch of money on those trades! Moore can always find cheap bullpen talent on the open market like Mahay and Farnsworth and Yabuta and Cruz and Bale and Wright. He must be paying those guys almost nothing to replace the guys he traded gave away. A little mistake here and there, no big deal. A bullpen oracle like Moore will always be able to build a good 'pen on the cheap! Oh, ... hmmm, those guys cost $16 million this year alone? well, … crap.

Well, I bet the pitching prospects Moore picked up over the last three years are banging at the doors now! Once rosters expand the fans should be ready for quite a treat! The future on display. Yup, when …. well, maybe when Carlos Rosa … gets …. here … oh, he was already in the organization when Moore was hired? Hmm. Yeah, this is getting awkward.

Bruce Chen was cheap!

crap

So, let's see if I understand this correctly. Dayton Moore traded away or released a group of very good and very inexpensive relief pitchers, and replaced them with a group of very bad and very expensive relief pitchers, and in return for the trades he collected a gaggle of very bad and very expensive position players who are all more or less out of the organization already? And, three years into Moore's watch, in terms of pitching prospects in the high minors, the Royals cupboard is bare. Now, why are the Royals are thinking about extending Dayton Moore's contract over a year before his current one expires? Is there any accountablity in this organization at all?