The Dayton Moore approval poll, end of the 2018 season edition

The Royals have dropped 100 losses in a season for the fifth time in franchise history, and yet, has there ever been a 100-loss season that left fans with so much hope? Despite a dreadful start, the Royals were able to play much better in the second half and have won 15 of their last 27. And those wins have been highlighted by young players that are part of the future, players like Adalberto Mondesi, Ryan O’Hearn, and Brad Keller.

You could argue that this season has gone about as well as you could have hoped, considering this was a rebuilding year anyway. The team absolutely cratered, giving the Royals the second-overall pick in next year’s draft and taking away any chance that the Royals would foolishly hold onto players at the trade deadline. Instead, Dayton Moore was able to spin veterans Jon Jay, Kelvin Herrera, and Mike Moustakas into some intriguing prospects like Brett Phillips, Jorge Lopez, Elvis Luciano, Kelvin Gutierrez, Blake Perkins, and Yohanse Morel.

Dayton played it safe for the 2018 draft, in which he had four of the top 40 picks, as the team went heavy with college pitchers. But Daniel Lynch has already emerged as a potential breakthrough star, Jackson Kowar looked brilliant at times, and Brady Singer popped up on Top 100 prospect lists. Moore was able to take advantage of the penalties levied on the Braves and swooped up two of their former prospects - Yefri del Rosario, and Juan Carlos Negret. He also signed a top 20 international free agent this summer and is rumored to be interested in one of the top Japanese pitchers.

The much maligned farm system still needs a lot of work, but it did show some improvement this year, with players like Seuly Matias, Khalil Lee, M.J. Melendez, Nick Pratto, and Nicky Lopez showing flashes of brilliance, albeit all with some holes to their game to be worked out.

The Royals are rumored to be cutting payroll next year, which really just means they are losing some players through attrition without adding any significant free agents. Considering Dayton’s recent track record in free agency, this should be a good thing. Give the younger players a chance to play, see what you have, and let the current bad deals on the payroll expire.

Still, how could Dayton Moore allowed the franchise to get this bad this soon? Shouldn’t fans be outraged over a 100-loss season, even in a rebuilding movement? The terrible season is still a reflection of poor free agent decisions, terrible drafts, and trades that backfired.

You can see how fans felt about Dayton Moore back in June. Has your opinion changed over the summer? Is he still the man to lead this franchise through the rebuild to the light at the end of the tunnel?