Realism 101

So, Royals GM Dayton Moore, ever the wizard of public relations, unloaded this on us today. The Royals are looking to win now. Any moves made this month are with an eye towards THIS season and not the future. Hey, two months, even one month ago, I was willing to go along with that philosophy, but it is too late now. You do not come back from six games under at the All-Star Break to make the playoffs.

We can rationalize that this may all be a big smoke screen by Moore to up the value of the players he wishes to trade. Conceivably, he could be that clever, but it seems sadly unlikely.

I believe we will wake up on August 1st to find this roster mostly identical to what it is right now. We may well here out of our esteemed organizational leader that 'We could not get adequate value in return for players we were willing to move' or 'We just could not give up guys who are helping us win right now.'

Whatever Moore truly believes about this season, the reality is that building for 2014 is going to start with the roster Moore built to win in 2013 and likely will doggedly stick with even without hope of, you know, actually winning.

The Royals will lose Ervin Santana, Bruce Chen and Miguel Tejeda to free agency at the end of the season, with Santana the only obvious 'loss'. Here is what this roster would have to do to be a real contender in 2014:

• Alex Gordon - He can play the game of baseball, but his offensive numbers are a tick below where they were in his breakout 2011 season. Gordon cannot regress offensively any further.
• Billy Butler - Like Gordon, Butler is having a good, but not 'as good as in the two years previous' year. Butler cannot regress, either. These first two are easy ones as I don't think either player will drop off next year and both may actually bounce back up.
• Salvador Perez - Stay healthy and continue to make contact despite an almost complete disregard for the strike zone. Perez can be valuable even if his hitting declines, but the Royals as currently constructed, cannot be viable without Perez hitting as he is now.
• Alcides Escobar - May never hit like he did in 2012, but has to find a way to get on-base more than he is right now. Whether batting second or ninth, Escobar cannot hit .246/.277/.328 if Kansas City is actually going to contend.
• Eric Hosmer - This one's easy: become a star. Gordon and Butler are very good, but the lineup needs a star and Hosmer's the guy.
• Mike Moustakas - It would be really, really nice if Mike would hit home runs often. Average and on-base? I don't see a lot of that in his future, but 35 home runs? If you squint just right, maybe. My guess is Dayton Moore squints just right a lot when he looks at both the remainder of the 2013 season and beyond.
• Lorenzo Cain - Like Craig said earlier today, 2013 is probably who Lorenzo Cain is and that's okay, except when that makes him the fifth best hitter on the team. Like Perez, Cain has to stay healthy and either needs to hit for higher average or for more power.
• David Lough - Do you think he's the every day answer in rightfield? It would be a nice story. If this group of 25/40 is going to win in 2014, he has to be at least David DeJesus if not more.
• Jarrod Dyson - If not Lough or if not Cain, then Jarrod Dyson needs to translate speed into a big on-base percentage. Big, like, real bonafide American lead-off hitter on-base percentage.
• Johnny Giavotella - Let's face it, you want to win 90+ in 2014? Giavotella needs to hit major league pitching like he hits AAA pitching. End of story.