If, as Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore so often says, pitching is the currency of baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays are going to some awful great lengths to acquire some. And they are doing it at the expense of the Royals.

Every offseason, without any fanfare, a draft is held in which certain players who are left off their teams’ 40-man major league roster, are eligible. This rule applies to players at least 23 years of age with four or more professional seasons under their belts, or players at least 22 with five or more seasons logged.

Thus unprotected, they are eligible to be selected by another team in what is known as the Rule 5 Draft. The only stipulation is that the drafted player must stay with his new major league club for the entire season. The cost of the selection is $100,000.

As stated above, this applies to players at least 22 years of age, except in a few rare cases. One such anomaly this past offseason happened to be an 18-year-old Royals prospect named Elvis Luciano.

Acquired by Kansas City from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a trade for Jon Jay in the middle of the 2018 season, Luciano had never pitched above the rookie leagues. Signed as a 16-year-old in 2016, he pitched in a total of 16 games at the lowest levels possible in the Diamondbacks’ system in 2017.

Recognizing his raw potential, the Royals asked that Luciano be included in the trade for Jay that also netted them pitcher Gabe Speier. Still just 18, the Royals brought the Dominican-born right-hander along slowly in 2018, using him in just 13 games at their rookie league level.

The Royals hoped to nurture the teenager into a hurler in the mold of the late Dominican star Yordano Ventura. But there was one catch. His original minor-league deal with Arizona was voided after he failed a physical at age 16. He reworked a second deal, but the technicality exposed him to the Rule 5 Draft from day one.

But no team would draft an 18-year-old in the Rule 5 Draft, knowing he would have to stay on the major league roster, right?

Apparently the Blue Jays so prize the talents of young Luciano that they believed he was worth the risk. Luciano has spent the entire season as the youngest player in the majors.

“That’s incredible,” said Brad Keller, whom the Royals claimed in the previous’ Rule 5 Draft. “I felt like the jump from Double A to the big leagues was pretty big. I can’t imagine going from rookie ball to the big leagues.”

The Blue Jays had to answer for why they would even consider putting a player so obviously unprepared on their big league roster.

“Elvis is an exciting young arm that we’ve done a lot of work on and feel that any time you can acquire someone who has the chance to be a Major League starting pitcher, or a significant chance to be that, based on our projections, based on our scout looks,” Toronto general manager Ross Atkins told MLB.com at the time.

“The work that we did on him, these types of attributes are hard to acquire,” Atkins said of Luciano. “The age, there are pluses and minuses to that. The pluses are the upside, the very high ceiling. The minuses are the risk and the unknown in how little he has pitched.”

Keller was one of the rare cases where a Rule 5 Draft pick actually turned into a frontline player. Keller shocked the league when he proved an excellent option out of the bullpen, then was elevated to a starter midseason. Keller finished his rookie year with a 9-6 record and a 3.08 ERA.

Keller was thrown directly into the flames in 2018. The Royals had to find out if he was worth keeping or not. Luciano has been spared such a baptism by fire. The Blue Jays have used him sparingly, and only in low-pressure situations. Still, Keller recognizes what a tall order the young man faces.

“All the power to him,” Keller said. “I’d just say keep your head down and learn as much as possible during the time you’re there, and soak in the moment of just getting to be in the big leagues.

The Blue Jays have found a loophole to protect Luciano even further. On June 12, they placed him on the injured list, and he’s stayed there. The Blue Jays will hide the “injured” teenager there for the maximum of 60-days. By rule, he has to be active for at least 90 days. So the Blue Jays will activate him in mid-August for a few weeks, and he will almost certainly be sent to the minor leagues next year.

Luciano will still be nursing his purported injury when the Blue Jays visit Kansas City July 29-31, thus missing his only chance to face his former employer.

“Its part of the business, part of the way things work,” said Keller of the strange route of young Luciano. “But you can try to enjoy every moment while you’re there. And if you learn all you can while you’re there, then maybe it won’t be such a long road to get back if you are sent down next year. For him, my advice would be just learn as much as you can, so that the whole time you’re in the minors you’ll already know what it takes to be in the big leagues.”

For the second year in a row, the Kansas City Royals look to be sellers as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, hoping to improve their farm system by trading away players who aren’t a long-term fit.

That means that, for the second year in a row, the team that finishes the season in Kansas City will look dramatically different from the one that started it.

While many more losses will follow the trade deadline, many interesting things could take place in Kansas City, things which hopefully will eventually lead to the resurgence of the franchise.

Which deals get made?

Last year the Royals were able to move players much more quickly than they have this season. By this time last year, the Royals had flipped Jon Jay and Kelvin Herrera for a considerable return. They would soon add more prospects by trading Mike Moustakas. And they would sell Terrance Gore and Lucas Duda, and trade Drew Butera.

This year’s trade market has been cold and the Royals have yet to make a single trade of significance.

They have several players under contract beyond 2019 that they would love to move if the right deal presented itself, starting with Ian Kennedy and possibly including Alex Gordon.

But they are more desperate to get anything in return for the guys with expiring contracts. Most likely to be traded are pitchers Homer Bailey and Jake Diekman and outfielder Billy Hamilton. Martin Maldonado and Gore might have some value somewhere. What the Royals can get in return may not be franchise altering, but anything helps.

Second round of auditions

Losing seasons open windows of opportunity for players trying to prove themselves. When a team no longer cares about wins and losses, it can patiently permit lenghty auditions, trying to find out which players are building blocks and which are merely stop-gaps.

Unfortunately, a few guys who looked like building blocks last season took a big step back this year. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn and outfielders Brett Phillips and Jorge Bonifacio all floundered in 2019, but may get a callback. Each is benefiting from a lack of other options at his position within the organization.

A year ago Cheslor Cuthbert’s career appeared to be dead. But injuries and O’Hearn’s failure gave the 26-year-old another shot at the big leagues, and he’s been at least passable. With Hunter Dozier locking down third base, Cuthbert needs to show he can handle first base and be a run-producer. O’Hearn may return to KC and take some of Cuthbert’s playing time down the stretch. But the opportunity is there for Cuthbert, and he needs to seize it.

Getting an even longer look have been the pitchers at the big league level. With so few big-league quality starting pitchers, Brad Keller and Jakob Junis will receive infinite number of chances to figure things out. Glenn Sparkman may not have as long a leash, as the Royals may try some other options. But if Bailey gets dealt, someone will have to start. Eric Skoglund, suspended for the first half of the season, will probably get another look.

Ready for openers?

With almost no starting pitchers in Triple-A pushing for a promotion, the Royals may experiment with using an “opener” rather than a starter. This strategy is gaining acceptance around the league, and the Royals look ready to give it a try. They’ve been toying with it with flame-throwing Josh Staumont and reclamation project Kyle Zimmer at Triple-A. Both guys have more than enough talent and just need to find the right fit. Opening may be just the ticket to finally tap their ability.

It’s finally Bubba Time!

Fans finally have the long-awaited debut of Gardner-Edgerton product Bubba Starling. At long last, the center fielder was healthy and hitting enough to be called up from Omaha. The Royals held him back, probably making sure his success is sustainable, and trying to get anything they can in exchange for Hamilton.

At worst, Starling is essentially a copy of Hamilton – a great defender who can’t hit. But Starling’s newfound success at the plate provides hope he’s finally ready to thrive in KC. His immense popularity on the Kansas side of the city will provide a boost at the box office, if nothing else.

Late season promotions

Expanded big league rosters and minor-league playoff races always cause a lot of player movement in September. Trades will open roster spots in Kansas City even earlier. The reshuffling the last two months of the season will provide lots of opportunities and some indication of who the Royals see as pieces of the future. Aside from Staumont and Zimmer, guys to watch for in KC will be pitcher Richard Lovelady, third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez, and jack-of-all-trades Erick Mejia.

Movement in the minor leagues will be just as interesting. Will top prospect Khalil Lee get a promotion to Triple-A? Will stud pitchers Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch successfully adjust to Double-A? And will uber-prospect Bobby Witt, Jr., currently at the Arizona rookie league, get promoted to a full-season club? Witt is already 19 and should be ready for the challenge.

Soler’s historic chase

Jorge Soler is on pace to hit 42 home runs. That would easily surpass Moustakas’ team record of 38. The Royals bear the embarrassment of being baseball’s only team without a 40-homer season in their history. With home runs flying out of parks at a record pace league-wide, the accomplishment might seem somewhat tainted. But juiced balls and a tighter strike zone aside, Soler’s emergence has been a much-needed breakthrough for the power-starved Royals.

Another strong finish

Despite a horrendous overall record, the 2018 Royals finished with a flourish, inspiring great optimism for 2019. But the new season started with a thud, and too many guys – Keller, Junis, O’Hearn, Jorge Lopez – took a step back. It would be refreshing if some prospects could infuse some energy into the club once again this year. Wins and losses won’t matter, but a recovery of some hope could still be attained down the stretch.

While not making it their intent this year, the Royals once again have a handful of players they may be interested in flipping this summer. Doing so could fetch some helpful minor leaguers, while clearing the way for younger Royals to gain valuable experience. It’s exactly what happened last season, and it’s the only thing that could salvage this wretched campaign.

The players in the clubhouse know it’s coming. It’s a harsh reality, but one they accept. It affects them professionally – who wouldn’t want to be traded from a cellar-dweller to a playoff contender mid season? But it also affects them professionally – should they move their families for what could be only a couple of months?

“It really doesn’t affect your daily approach to things at all,” said Terrance Gore, who was acquired late in the 2018 campaign by the playoff-bound Chicago Cubs from the Royals. “It more affects your family more than anything. You may have to pack up and leave at any point and time on short notice. But as a player it really doesn’t affect you. You just go out there and play the game the way you’ve been playing.

“If it happens, it happens. Sometimes it’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s a bad thing. But leaving the Royals, because I’ve been with the Royals so long, it’s definitely a bad thing, because I’ll always be a Royal no matter where I go. But if it happens to you, it’s just something you have to live with.”

Major League Baseball set a hard deadline for trades this year – July 31 is the cutoff. So deals may start happening a little earlier than in years past.

Players like Gore understand that deft trades at mid-season can change history. When the Royals won the 2015 World Series, it was in large part due to the trade-deadline acquisitions of Ben Zobrist and Johnny Cueto. And last year, the Royals were on the selling end, shipping Moustakas at the deadline to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jorge Lopez and Brett Phillips.

“Every player does look at it as an opportunity,” Gore said of being traded to a contending team. “It’s a chance to contribute to something special.

“We look at it as a business. Sometimes giving away one player you can get two players in return that will make the team better in the long run. I’m always a Royal, and anything that will help the organization in the long run, I’m cool with it.”

A few one-year flippables on the team might have some value on the trade market. First and foremost is Jake Diekman. While the bullpen has been pretty awful as a whole, the 32-year-old lefty has been tough, with a WHIP barely above 1.00 and more than 13 strikeouts per nine innings. The Royals signed him to a one-year deal knowing he could very well be trade bait.

Sadly neither Wily Peralta nor Brad Boxberger – other relievers on one-year deals – won’t attract similar trade interest.

Homer Bailey’s hot and cold performances might not attract a great haul, but some team in need of a starter might give him a try.

Two one-year position players might bring some prospects, if just the right trade partners can be found.

Martin Maldonado holds tremendous value for any contending team who finds itself in need of a catcher down the stretch. Maldonado is a whiz defensively and has shown he can quickly bond with a pitching staff. He won’t be a difference maker with the bat, but he could save a season for a team in need of a rock behind the plate.

Outfielder Billy Hamilton has failed to provide much offense, but the rest of the league knows what he can do: play great defense and steal bases. A team that could use a late-game pinch runner and defensive replacement could get some real good out of the 28-year-old speed demon. Trading Hamilton would also open a spot for prospect Bubba Starling to finally make his long-awaited debut.

The Royals should do anything and everything necessary to trade all of the players mentioned above. None of them fit the organization’s future plans, and will just be taking up space if they are on the roster after July 31.

And none of them hold any sentimental value to the organization. That cannot be said, however, for Alex Gordon, whose contract runs out after this year as well. Would the Royals actually consider trading the local product, the pillar of the franchise and fixture in the community?

Other teams have traded cornerstone stars at the deadline – Justin Verlander, David Price and Yoenis Cespedes are just a few from recent years. But for a beleaguered club to trade a guy who’s labored faithfully for 13 years is hard to envision.

Other difficult deals to swing could involve guys with more than one year left on their contracts. It was reported (although General Manager Dayton Moore denied it) that the Royals are open to trading nearly everyone on their current roster.

If a deal can be found for Ian Kennedy, the Royals shouldn’t hesitate. He shows some potential as a reliever, but he won’t be with Kansas City past next year, and his contract is an albatross.

Whit Merrifield would probably bring the most in return, and the Royals might be open to dealing him, despite having three very affordable years left on his contract. If Jorge Soler continues to crush home runs, he might also have value on the trade market. And Danny Duffy might be attractive to some team.

Those three players should only be traded for a haul in return, as they each hold value for the ongoing rebuild. But if enough is offered in return, none should be considered untouchable. Gordon might fall in a different category, and it would understandable if the Royals choose to keep him.

Otherwise, let the wheeling and dealing begin!

A fresh start can’t come soon enough for the Kansas City Royals.

When the Royals take the field on Thursday, they hope to erase the memory of the second-worst season in the history of the organization. Only the disastrous 2005 campaign, in which the Royals posted 56-106 record, was worse.

Last season’s attempt to compete with retreads and one-year fliers failed miserably. Against the better judgment of virtually every analyst, the Royals tried to cut payroll, rebuild the minor league system, and still compete with a collection of misfits. No one was surprised when the experiment was a complete catastrophe. When the Royals got off to a 7-21 start, the season seemed to be wasted. By May of 2018, fans were already resigned to fast-forward to 2019.

But looking beyond the win-loss column, something happened in the second half of the season that provides cause for optimism.

Once General Manager Dayton Moore was forced to give up hopes of competing, he shifted to what most believed should have been the plan all along. He finally started flipping his trade pieces for prospects. Fans bid farewell to holdovers from the championship team like Kelvin Herrera, Mike Moustakas and Drew Butera. With considerably less sentimentality, the Royals also flipped one-year stopgaps Lucas Duda and Jon Jay.

The prospects the Royals received in return went a long way toward rebuilding the farm system. But perhaps even more importantly, emptying the cupboard allowed youngsters a chance to show what they could do. Enter athletic types Adalberto Mondesi, Ryan O’Hearn, Brett Phillips, Brian Goodwin and young arms Jorge Lopez and Heath Fillmyer.

Those newcomers joined a young cohort already in Kansas City – Brad Keller, Jacob Junis, Hunter Dozier – and suddenly things clicked.

Buried on August 24 by a 39-90 start to the season, this revamped roster started playing with passion. The kids played to show what they could do, essentially auditioning for roles in 2019. They played at a .586 clip the rest of the way.

A youth movement is now afoot. With it comes tempered expectations. No one anticipates the 2019 Royals winning anywhere near 58 percent of their games. Anything near .500 would, frankly, come as a shock.

But the good news is you won’t be watching a collection of one-year trade chips this year. The players taking the field for Kansas City this summer may well be around for years to come. If the Royals are to be good in 2021 and beyond, it will be with Mondesi, Keller, and some of the others likely playing a large role.

Things change fast. Only a few members of the beloved 2015 squad will be around. Alex Gordon will almost certainly play his last season as a Royal. Fans need to enjoy it while it lasts. Danny Duffy will likely be around for the foreseeable future, and hopefully he can approximate the role of an experienced “ace.”

Sadly, the most popular player left from the championship season will not be in uniform in 2019. Salvador Perez will be repairing an injured arm. Rest assured, whatever time he spends in Kansas City will not go unnoticed. He’ll surely be bounding around the dugout, leading the cheers and the Gatorade splashes. But his bat, his defense, and particularly his on-field leadership, will be sorely missed.

Ultimately, the win-loss record of the 2019 Royals is not important. This team will be about development. But the product on the field will be infinitely more entertaining than last year. And the future will be taking shape before our eyes. That should wash away the awful taste of the 2018 disaster.

Opening day can’t get her quickly enough.

How are those players doing today, and how does the Royals’ replacement plan look? This week, I’m taking a look at each of the five players celebrated on the last day of 2017 and what the Royals are doing at their respective positions:

Read Monday’s look at Eric Hosmer and the Royals’ plan to replace him.

Read Tuesday’s look at Alcides Escobar and the Royals’ plan to replace him.

Read Wednesday’s look at Mike Moustakas and the Royals’ plan to replace him.

Read Thursday’s look at Jason Vargas and the Royals’ plan to replace him.

Friday – Lorenzo Cain, CF: This one hurts.

You could argue that the Royals quickly adjusted to the departure of Hosmer and Vargas, and they brought back Escobar and Moustakas to start 2018. But they let Lorenzo Cain go. And there was just no way they could immediately replace what Cain meant to the team.

Cain was the 2015 Royals best player. His 7.2 WAR total, fourth best among position players in the American League, was by far the highest on the team. Losing him for much of 2016 is a big reason the team dropped off. He was back amongst the best in the game with a 5.3 WAR total in 2017.

The Royals certainly knew they had no one capable of taking up that kind of slack, but there was nothing they could do. Resigning a 32-year-old with a history of injury just didn’t make sense. So they bid Cain farewell and braced for the drop off.

There was a glimmer of misguided hope that minor leaguer Bubba Starling would step up and take some of Cain’s playing time. But Starling doesn’t look like he’ll ever fulfill his immense potential. So the Royals scrambled, playing Alex Gordon and Whit Merrifield some in center while searching for other options.

Playing Abraham Almonte in center was a waste of time. But the short employment of Jon Jay in the outfield did exactly what was intended. Jay played well enough in the first couple of months to be traded for prospects.

Next up, the Royals tried Rosell Herrera and Brian Goodwin, both formerly prized prospects with other teams. And finally, KC acquired Brett Phillips in a trade for Moustakas.

Each of the three has some potential. Herrera has speed, can play numerous positions, and is a switch hitter. Goodwin may have the best bat. And Phillips has an incredible arm to go along with speed. None of the three, however, will ever remind anyone of Cain.

Cain brought the kind of well-rounded performance to the Milwaukee Brewers that led the Royals to two World Series. This year, he was second in the National League in WAR with 6.9, and second in defensive WAR with 2.4. He was the perfect investment for a Brewers team loaded for a postseason run.

He was not, however, the perfect investment for a team in rebuild mode. And the Royals were smart to let him go. He made $14 million in 2018 and will see his salary escalate by a million each of the next four years. He probably won’t be worth $18 million as a 36-year-old in 2022. The Royals will have better ways to spend that kind of money.

The one good thing that came from letting Cain walk was a compensation pick in the 2018 amateur draft – pick 33. The Royals gladly snatched up college pitcher Jackson Kowar. The righty was instantly rated the Royals’ fourth-best prospect and impressed in a half season of A-ball.

The Royals must see Cain as the past, and Kowar as their future. They may not find a centerfielder as productive as Cain for a long time. The search for someone to do the job adequately is underway.

The Royals have essentially played two seasons in 2018. The first season, the disastrous one in which a group of veterans put up a 27-68 record at the All-Star break, had people worried they might just be the worst team in history (seriously!)

Then they played a second season, going for youth and speed. That team has gone 24-28 since the All-Star break and bolstered the minor league system at the same time.

Some of the choices made by Dayton Moore over the past nine months that produced such a dramatic switch were forced upon him by financial realities. Some were so obviously necessary (like moving Alcides Escobar aside for Adalberto Mondesi) that fans couldn’t figure out what took so long. And a few took serious nerve and ingenuity by Moore.

The list is long of players Kansas City jettisoned. Here’s how those moves are working out so far.

Changes prior to the 2018 season:

Eric Hosmer – The Royals allegedly tried hard to entice Hosmer to return to Kansas City with a hefty contract. Hosmer ultimately opted to sign with the San Diego Padres, and beloved as Hosmer was in Kansas City, the Royals lucked out on this one.

The Royals went with stopgap Lucas Duda and rookie Hunter Dozier at first base. But in the past month, Ryan O’Hearn has asserted himself as the first baseman of the immediate future. Hosmer has underperformed on his enormous contract with 16 homers and 62 RBI while playing essentially every day. O’Hearn has 10 homers and 24 RBI in less than one-fifth as many at bats. Hosmer’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) total is just 0.9, while O’Hearn’s is already 1.2.

Lorenzo Cain – The Royals were loath to let Cain depart, but they feared his age and injury history made him a poor investment for a rebuilding team. They will ultimately be proved right, but it comes as no surprise Cain is tearing up the National League. He’s currently batting .313 with a .403 on-base percentage. In terms of WAR, Cain is the second best position player in the National League.

In Cain’s absence, the Royals have employed several options in centerfield, primarily Jon Jay (more on him later). None was a permanent fix, and current frontrunner Brett Phillips, acquired midseason, may not be either.

As compensation for letting Cain and Hosmer depart via free agency, the Royals received additional draft picks (in the 33^rd and 34^th slot) in the 2018 draft. By picking college pitchers Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch, the Royals may have added two pieces of their starting rotation of the very near future.

The Royals wouldn’t have been a good team in 2018 had they resigned Cain, and they were right to rebuild without him. But there is no doubt, they would be a much better team today with him. The same can’t be said about Hosmer.

Jason Vargas – The Royals let their top starting pitcher from 2017 walk, judging correctly that the 34 year old’s 18-11 record was unrepeatable. They were right. The New York Mets are paying Vargas $6 million for disastrous output. They are on the hook for $16 million more over the next two seasons, and the results are likely to get worse.

Vargas’ rotation spot was handed to Jakob Junis, and the 25-year-old looks like a building block of the future.

Brandon Moss – For some inexplicable reason, the Oakland A’s were willing to trade two minor league pitchers for Moss and pitcher Ryan Buchter. Moss’ skills had slipped to the point he was released by Oakland in spring training, and no other team wants him.

In exchange for Moss, the Royals acquired Heath Fillmyer and minor leaguer Jesse Hahn. Fillmyer has made some good starts in Kansas City, and Hahn, injured all of 2018, still holds some promise.

By not wasting playing time on Moss, the Royals have been able to audition outfielders like Phillips, Rosell Herrera and Brian Goodwin.

Joakim Soria and Scott Alexander – This one hurts when you look just at 2018. The Royals traded these two essentially to rid themselves of Soria’s contract. But Alexander was a valuable young piece of the bullpen and he’s been very good for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Soria was rejuvenated with the Chicago White Sox.

The Royals received two quality prospects in Trevor Oaks and Erick Mejia, but neither is setting any worlds on fire.

The Royals shipped out a long list of pitchers after 2017, including Chris Young, Matt Strahm, Peter Moylan, Trevor Cahill and Travis Wood. The good news is the Royals are giving all those innings to young pitchers who may be good in the future.

Changes during the 2018 season:

Jon Jay – Jay was very good in a short stint with the Royals, but he was signed expressly to flip for prospects. Eighteen-year-old Elvis Luciano has loads of talent and time to develop it. Gabe Speier is an organizational filler who may reach the big leagues eventually.

Kelvin Herrera – It was essential not only that Herrera be traded, but that it be done at just the right time. Score a big win here for Moore. Herrera was near perfect for half a season in Kansas City. He was dealt for three prospects and promptly went into decline.

The return for Herrera has been solid. Kelvin Gutierrez, a minor league third baseman who is exceeding expectations at Double A. Depending on how Dozier fares, Gutierrez may be the Royals third baseman of the future. Blake Perkins is a talented outfielder who needs time to develop. Another 18-year-old named Yohanse Morel was thrown in and may be a player eventually.

Mike Moustakas – Moustakas has been good for the Milwaukee Brewers since being dealt on July 27 – six homers and a .277 average. But trading him was the only choice.

The Royals hoped to rake in the prospects for Moose. They may not have done that, but pitcher Jorge Lopez nearly pitched a perfect game last week, and has been ok in his other five starts. Brett Phillips has loads of skill, but will have to learn to hit. Like Lopez, his talent is intriguing.

Having won 13 of 19 since August 24, the new season is inspiring hope. Like manager Ned Yost said Friday night, “It’s starting to get fun again.”

On June 3, the Royals had a record of 13-36, far and away worst in baseball. The 2018 season was already a lost cause. And to make matters even worse, their farm system was considered to be one of the weakest in the game as well. The team was horrible, and there was little hope in sight.

But when the team stumbled out of the gate and quickly ruined the year, it allowed the team to focus on talent acquisition, and to leverage the few assets it possessed.

General Manager Dayton Moore’s handling of the roster the past two years has been roundly scrutinized. But this summer, he leaped at a chance to improve the pipeline considerably.

First, the Royals utilized compensation picks in the amateur draft, which kicked off on June 4, to quickly inject an infusion of new talent.

The Royals were already pinning their hopes on a collection of youngsters in A-ball – the Lexington and Wilmington clubs – considered the next “wave” of talent comparable to when Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Danny Duffy, Salvador Perez and Yordano Ventura matriculated up through the system. On June 4, they doubled down on that wave by drafting a passel of college pitchers.

The decision to put so many eggs in this one basket was questioned by some. But by doing so, they essentially doubled the size of the wave. The farm system lacked quality arms, and they Royals added several who could move up quickly, particularly Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch and Kris Bubic.

Then Moore kicked into action a plan he’d initiated during the winter.

Rather than just hand over positions in the major leagues to unproven rookies, Moore had chosen to stock up on cheap veterans under one-year contracts, hoping to flip them like one would a fixer-upper. While it didn’t work with each of his projects, Moore was able to sign and flip Jon Jay and Mike Moustakas for pennies on the dollar.

The Royals paid Jay about $1.2 million for a couple months of work, then on June 6, acquired a high-ceiling 18-year-old project named Elvis Luciano, plus a minor league pitcher with some potential in Gabe Speier.

On July 27, just before the trade deadline, Moore sent Moustakas to the Milwaukee Brewers for top prospect Brett Phillips and pitcher Jorge Lopez, both of whom had seen some action in the majors. Thus the Royals invested a mere $3 million in salary to Moustakas to acquire a top outfield candidate and major-league caliber arm.

Between those deals, the Royals flipped reliever Kelvin Herrera, whose contract was about to expire, for two developing minor leaguers in Blake Perkins and Kelvin Gutierrez, plus another young project in 17-year-old pitcher Yohanse Morel.

Beating the bushes even further, Moore picked up a versatile and speedy switch hitter of waivers from the Cincinnati Reds in Rosell Herrera. Then he traded a low-level prospect for former first round draft pick Brian Goodwin. The two joined the Royals and immediately paid dividends.

And just like that, Moore had dramatically restocked the empty cupboard that was the Royals farm system, and added some new blood to the big league team to boot.

Of the Royals top 19 prospects rated by MLB.com, nine were not in the Royals’ system prior to June 4. The wave at the lower levels of the system that was started in 2017 gained strength with college pitchers and college outfielder Kyle Isbel. The mid-level minors was fortified with Perkins, Gutierrez and Speier. Furthermore, Kansas City took a flier on a couple of “lottery tickets” in Luciano and Morel.

Talent wasn’t just injected into the minors. Judging by the recent play of Phillips, Rosell Herrera and Goodwin, help is already arriving in Kansas City.

Next up, the Royals will try to get something – anything – for short-timers Jason Hammel and Lucas Duda via deals that are permitted past the trade deadline. Over the winter, they might listen to offers for their three most prized possessions – Salvador Perez, Danny Duffy and Whit Merrifield.

And then they will be in line for one of the top picks in next June’s draft, the reward for being awful in 2018.

The Royals will continue to be bad for the foreseeable future. But perhaps the worst has passed. The youth movement will at least be entertaining to watch.

Rosell Herrera’s 2018 season is a microcosm of the highs and lows of life.

Herrera is seeing regular playing time in the major leagues, and on July 15 he became a father, his wife giving birth to a healthy girl named Roselyne. Life can’t get much better, win-loss record be damned.

“Life just feels awesome right now,” Herrera said. “(The birth of his daughter) changed everything. Right now I’m trying to live in the moment and be the very best father I can be, while also trying to do all I can to take advantage of this opportunity here.”

The opportunity Herrera refers to is the chance to be in the lineup daily for the Kansas City Royals. An eight-year minor leaguer who was bound for unemployment just two months ago, the new father has found the Royals’ collapse to be to his advantage. One he’s trying to make the most of, despite some sleepless nights.

“We didn’t get a lot of sleep when I was there (over the All-Star break),” said Herrera, whose wife isn’t currently living in Kansas City. “My wife is there taking care of her when I’m away, but when I was there we were up a lot.

“It’s hard to leave, because it’s my first experience having a baby. I was very happy when I was there, but I know I have to be here to do my job. I feel blessed and am so excited to try to show what I can do here in the major leagues.”

In spite of the Royals’ dismal record, the 25-year-old feels like he’s sitting on top of the world. But it’s been a roller coaster to get to this point.

There was a time when the Dominican-born Herrera was a hot commodity. He was a Baseball America Top 100 prospect in the Colorado Rockies system prior to the 2014 season. Speed, versatility, and the ability to switch hit made his future appear bright.

But when he failed to hit for power, the Rockies cut their ties with him in 2017. The Cincinnati Reds gave him a brief try this season. He played 23 games in the Reds’ minor leagues, and got an 11-game audition at the big leagues. But when Herrera batted just .154, Cincinnati put him on waivers.

Desperate to accelerate their rebuild, the Royals took a flier on Herrera. He played ten games, primarily in the infield, for the Omaha Storm Chasers. When Jorge Soler went down with an injury in mid-June, Herrera got his chance to play in the Kauffman Stadium outfield.

Herrera has some of the tools that play well in Kansas City, primarily speed. He’s flashy in the outfield, running down fly balls with confidence and flair. His slap-hitting style from both sides of the plate may work well in the spacious stadium. The fact that he can play six positions on the infield and outfield means he’s ready for almost any opportunity.

Thus far with the Royals, Herrera has only played in the outfield. But in his minor league career, Herrera played 307 games at shortstop, 90 at third base, and six at second base.

“I like the infield, but right now they need me in the outfield, and I’m ready for that,” Herrera said. “It’s good to play multiple positions because it gives me a lot more opportunity to get on the field.”

With most of their top prospects a couple of years away from the big leagues, Kansas City is seeking diamonds in the rough to bolster their outfield talent pool.  First they brought in veterans Jon Jay and Tyler Collins during spring training. Then they traded for Abraham Almonte.

And since mid-season, the Royals have picked up Herrera and recently acquired Brian Goodwin via a trade with the Washington Nationals. Both Herrera and Goodwin are former top prospects who lost their shine. Both may benefit from the fresh start offered by a team in full rebuild.

Now the Royals have traded Mike Moustakas for another outfield candidate, the Brewers 24-year-old prospect Brett Phillips.

The presence of Goodwin and Phillips may make the outfield a lot more crowded for Herrera. But thus far, manager Ned Yost has penciled in Herrera’s name nearly every game since he arrived in mid-June. And with the trade of Moustakas now executed, Herrera may find himself manning third base. His bat will ultimately determine if he sticks with the Royals long term.

Regardless, the new dad remains undaunted.

“I just keep working hard. We all have things we can do to get better. I need to keep working on my hitting, and on my defense. I’m just happy to have this opportunity.”

Not many things have gone right for the Royals in 2018. If fans haven’t given up already, with just over a quarter of the season in the books, they are forced to search pretty hard to find any positives.

One thing the Royals did try that has turned out as planned was the addition of a true leadoff hitter in veteran Jon Jay.

During the Royals’ renaissance of 2013 to 2017, their lineup was effective in spite of the lack of a traditional table setter at the top of the order. The Royals tried just about everything. They acquired Nori Aoki, a traditional leadoff type. They tried to capitalize on Alex Gordon’s knack for getting on base. They tried Lorenzo Cain for his dynamic combination of speed and power. And more frequently than could be believed by analytics specialists, manager Ned Yost plugged Alcides Escobar into the top spot. While Escobar stinks at just about everything at the plate, Yost believed he brought some sort of good luck – which was dubbed “Esky Magic” – to the role.

As the Royals search for a direction in 2018 (are they rebuilding or not?), they brought in a veteran in Jay who knows the leadoff role and plays it the traditional way. With almost no power potential, Jay hits singles and coaxes walks at a rate much higher than anyone the Royals have used in the role recently.

“I try to set the table for the guys behind me,” said Jay, owner of a .355 career on-base percentage. “When I hit at the top of the lineup, I’m just trying to get on base, and to see a lot of pitches.”

The Royals’ disappointing finish in 2017 could be blamed in part on the team’s lack of a table setter. Kansas City’s leadoff hitters combined for a .279 on-base percentage, lowest in the majors. Their 89 runs scored ranked second to last.

Though not used in the top spot every game, Jay is demonstrating he fits that role. He entered the weekend series with the New York Yankees second on the team in batting average at .299 and second in on-base percentage at .363.

Jay is happy to play the leadoff role when called upon, but doesn’t criticize the Royals for the way they filled that spot in the past.

“Every team is built a little bit differently, and the past couple of years, you could say that they didn’t have a true leadoff hitter, but I don’t see it that way,” said Jay. “Everything was constructed differently and it worked, obviously.”

The Royals acquisition of Jay appears to make sense on several levels. Aside from being the leadoff hitter they’ve lacked, Jay fills a void that appeared in the offseason. When the Royals lost Cain to free agency and Jorge Bonifacio for half the season due to suspension, they needed a stopgap while they wait for minor league outfield prospects to develop.

Furthermore, Jay joined the Royals on a one-year contract, allowing them to showcase him to be traded mid-season. It’s a safe bet that some contending team will need an outfielder as the July trade deadline nears, and the Royals can then flip Jay for prospects. His $3 million contract isn’t a big investment, and won’t be a deterrent to any potential trade partner.

Jay’s future with the Royals is beyond his control, and he’s choosing to focus on the here and now.

“I am just taking it one day at a time here,” said the nine-year veteran. “I just always try to play hard, lead by example and just help the team in any way I can.”

Jay understands being traded is just part of the game, but said that he likes being a Kansas City Royal.

“It’s an adjustment for me and my family. I love coming to the field here in Kansas City, and I just love playing baseball. So I just plan to show up here every day and do all I can to help the team.”

When the Royals host Detroit on Sunday, they will do so in Kansas City Monarchs uniforms, pitted against the Detroit Stars in the annual Salute to the Negro Leagues.

New to the Royals this season, outfielder Jon Jay recognizes the importance of Negro League baseball to Kansas City, and is happy for the chance to celebrate it.

“History is huge to me. And part of that history is the Negro Leagues, and what went before Jackie Robinson,” said the nine-year veteran Jay. “Guys were playing segregated baseball, and I don’t take that for granted at all. Every day that I put on the uniform is something special. And to wear the Negro League uniform is a really good way to remember what they went through so that we can play in the major leagues today.”

The Kansas City and Topeka areas were a hotbed for baseball amongst the African-American community for more than half a century. In fact, the Topeka Giants were celebrated as the “Black Champions of the West” in 1906, and the Kansas City Giants were named the “Colored Champions of 1909.”

Arguably the most important singular event in segregated baseball occurred at the Paseo YMCA in 1920, when eight owners gathered to form the Negro National League, which included the Kansas City Monarchs. The formation of a league brought new legitimacy to the brand of baseball played by non-whites.

And from 1920 to 1965, the Monarchs were the most consistently competitive, profitable and well-known of the Negro League franchises. They crisscrossed the nation with players like Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neill, and were the team that launched Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier shortly after World War II.

Similar to African-Americans, dark-skinned Hispanic players were barred from the major leagues prior to 1947, a fact not lost on Nicaraguan native Cheslor Cuthbert. It is estimated that up to 20 percent of Negro League players were from outside the U.S.

“It’s hard to envision what that must have been like,” Cuthbert said. “But when you love baseball, you just want to play, no matter what.”

The major leagues gradually accepted more and more non-whites, and today the game is brimming with players from Latin America. 2017 saw the highest percentage of non-white players in major league history at 42.5 percent. Of that number, 31.9 percent were categorized as Latin American.

“It’s an honor to play the game and show your appreciation for what they did,” Cuthbert said. “I know it was hard for them. We owe them a lot. Because of what they did, a lot of Latin Americans have had the opportunity to play.”

Fans are encouraged to suit up too. Sunday games were the biggest and best attended of the week for Negro League clubs, and fans often came straight from church, dressed in their Sunday best. Kauffman Stadium will host some nattily dressed guests again this year, as “Dressed to the Nines” has officially become a part of the annual celebration.

The short, baggy pants and the billowy jerseys with the Monarchs’ iconic KC logo on the chest will be auctioned to raise money for Kansas City’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

The recent uptick by the 2018 Royals has momentarily lifted fans’ spirits. The game with the Tigers Sunday, however, provides a reminder of an even more important struggle than that on the field. For one day, the Royals become the Monarchs, and win or lose, they play for something truly historic.