Royals GM has valuable pieces to deal at deadline

	Octavio Dotel didn't make his first appearance since May 23, but he has been dominant (24 Ks in 20 IP) since then. Kirby Lee/WireImage.com
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Maybe Dayton Moore, the still-new general manager of the suddenly surprising Royals, makes a stunner of a deal in the next week and a half before the trade deadline. Maybe he quietly swaps one minor part of his team for an unknown part of someone else's. Maybe he just sits and does nothing.

Whatever happens before the July 31 deadline, though, you'd better believe this about Moore and the Royals this trade season: They're players. They have some chips. And what they do, or what they don't do, matters. The question is: What should they do?

The Royals have one piece in this game, Octavio Dotel, who represents maybe the most coveted type of player in this summer's trade market: a hard-throwing, experienced and relatively cheap reliever. They have another, Reggie Sanders, who would provide someone with a proven bat for a run at the pennant, another valuable commodity.

They have other players, too, that Moore may be willing to deal and that some team might be willing to take. Yet even though he has some currency in this game, Moore is not pants-on-fire ready to trade. He has to weigh the effects of landing a player or two that could help the team in the future against the effects of breaking up a team that is just beginning to find its footing. He has to think about changing course while not going off course.

It won't be easy, now that the offers are beginning to roll in. But nothing's ever easy for the Royals. "We'll listen to anybody. We're always going to try to be aggressive," Moore says. "We'll listen. But if we don't make a move, we don't make a move. That doesn't mean we're not getting better."

The reason the Royals are in this position in the first place is that they are a better team, from top to bottom, from the front office to the dugout. They're probably much better than anyone could have guessed. Certainly, they're much better than anyone could have envisioned six weeks ago.

At the beginning of June the Royals were 19-35. Many of their youngsters -- specifically, supposed phenom Alex Gordon -- were terrible. Some veterans, such as Sanders, were hurt, and most everybody else was struggling. The Royals had a .248 batting average, a .319 on-base percentage and a 4.82 ERA in the first two months of the season.

Since then, though, they've gone 22-18. They've hit .275 over the past six weeks and their on-base percentage is .333. Their pitchers have a 4.06 ERA in that span, an improvement of more than 3/4 of a run. Gordon -- with a .185 average and a .301 OBP before June 1 -- is hitting .303 since, with a .358 OBP.

All that has put Moore and the Royals in that awkward in-between land. The best part of their team is the bullpen; do they want to break that up, trading Dotel, weakening them for the rest of the season? Sanders is just now coming back from a pulled hamstring; do they want to trade him and forego the chance of finally getting the offense going?

It's easy to tell the Royals to take care of the future because they're not going anywhere this year. But what would sacrificing the rest of '07 tell this young team that's just now beginning to believe? Would the Royals be able to handle a precipitous fall in the second half? Would they understand? Would the people in Kansas City get it?

"The last six weeks we've been playing much better baseball. We've been more consistent," says starting pitcher Gil Meche, whose hot start helped put the Royals in this position. "It's a big step for us to get the young guys confident."

It's difficult to see which way Moore will proceed at the trade deadline, but the presence of Meche on this team, in a lot of ways, might be a clue. Moore, remember, stunned many in the baseball community by signing the free-agent right-hander to a five-year, $55 million contract last winter. Lots of teams liked Meche, but no one expected him to get $55 million. And no one figured the Royals to be the team to give it to him.

But Moore, after some careful deliberation with his scouts, took the chance, and so far it has paid off. Meche was 3-1 with a 1.91 ERA in his first nine starts. He has slid a little since, but he's still the team ace. "I think signing me was a huge statement, for the whole city, the owner, and for Dayton," Meche says.

Moore has been a bit of a gambler when it has come to building this team. ("Where we are," he says, "you've got to take risks.") But Moore is a smart gambler, one who prepares and uses all the information he can gather before making a decision. He's using everything at his disposal to make this team better, building up the Royals' presence in Latin America, re-working the scouting and development system and dipping into the free-agent pool.

Now comes another important way to improve his team: the midseason trade market. This, though, might be the toughest way. Mid-July is no time for careful deliberation and fact-finding. This time of year, July 31 looms large for every general manager. "During the offseason," Moore says, "you have a chance to be more proactive. Then, you don't have a deadline."

So, trade Dotel for some prospects and risk wrecking the best part of his young team? Swap Sanders for a young player and give up a good bat and a steadying presence? Deal or no deal? Gamble or play it safe?

Moore isn't saying. A good gambler never does.