The Dayton Moore approval poll

The Royals are less than a year removed from a championship, but there has been a big letdown in 2016 as the team has stumbled badly in the month of July to fall below .500 and out of contention for a post-season spot. The team faces a critical off-season to re-tool to make another run at a championship in 2017 before facing several difficult decisions on free agents following that season.

Dayton Moore has two pennants and a championship to his resume, but his off-season is looking like a disaster so far, and several fans are left disappointed at his standing pat at the trade deadline. On the other hand, he has given us the core of a team that could be competitive next year, and has locked up key components such as Salvador Perez and Yordano Ventura to long-term deals.

Dayton has done fairly well in trades, but his record on free agents looks, at best, like a mixed bag. The farm system is woefully thin right now, a terrible position for a small-market team to be in. While some of the depth was sacrificed to make a run at a championship in 2015, the recent drafts have bore little fruit, with high profile disappointments such as Aaron Crow, Bubba Starling, and Kyle Zimmer.

There is no doubt Dayton Moore has taken a moribund franchise that was the laughingstock of the league and built from the ground up a totally different organization. The Royals have a much greater international presence, have reinvested in scouting, the draft, and player development, and have increased payroll to franchise records.

Do you have confidence Dayton Moore can get the Royals back to contention in 2017? Do you have confidence he can keep the team competitive beyond that, or at least rebuild the team successfully to be competitive in the near future? Does his championship buy him some leeway? Do you approve of the job he is doing?