Royal stumble

Fairy tale coming to an end in K.C.

EARLIER this week, Royals general manager Dayton Moore insisted his team was still using a two-pronged approach, investigating being buyers or sellers before Monday’s trade deadline. He asserted, “Reports out there that we exchanged names with teams [as sellers] simply are not true.” That might be semantics — executives often signal what they are willing to do in trades, such as explaining the types of players it will take to get a desired piece off of a roster. At this point, it would be negligent for the Royals not to be considering a sale of interesting pieces such as Edinson Volquez, Luke Hochevar and Kendrys Morales — several teams that need starting pitching depth could do worse than Volquez, while Hochevar would fit many clubs’ seventh-inning needs (including the Mets) and Morales might be a nice replacement for the Rangers for out-for-the-season Prince Fielder. The big item is Wade Davis, whom the Cubs inquired about before obtaining Aroldis Chapman and whom the Nationals would love to unseat plummeting closer Jonathan Papelbon. Moore must consider every option for many reasons, but mainly because this is not 2014 or 2015. The Royals had the same record (48-50) after 98 games as their ’14 version (it was 48-51 through Tuesday). But in 2014, Kansas City had not been to the playoffs since 1985 (the longest drought in the majors) and there was a sense Moore’s job might be on the line, so the Royals went for it and made it to Game 7 of the World Series.

In late July 2015, they had the AL’s best record and the motivation of coming so close to winning it all the previous season, so it made sense to trade five pitching prospects for Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist — moves that helped win a title.

Of course, Kansas City wants to try to extend the good times — after such protracted bad times. And the pressure is magnified because four of its best players — Davis, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas — can be free agents after next season, as can Danny Duffy, who has been the Royals best starter this year. Their window might be through next season, at most.

“We are wired to try to win,” Moore said in a phone conversation. “But if someone blows you away, then fine. Then if it makes really good sense — now and for the future — we will consider it.”

Moore emphasized three reasons why selling must be considered:

1. Kansas City began Wednesday 9 ¹/2 games out of first, 7 ¹/2 out of a wild card. The Royals were 38-31 through June 19, a half-game out of first. They then went to Citi Field, where they clinched the title last year, lost two onerun games to the Mets, setting them off on a 10-20 stretch (the third-worst mark in that span).

2. Moore cited “weaknesses that have been extreme” throughout the roster and the lack of obvious available fixes, such as Cueto and Zobrist were last year. In the past two years, the Royals had overcome ordinary rotation work to excel. This year, though, the starters have been even worse and the rest of the team not as good. Cain and Alex Gordon missed long stretches and Moustakas is out for the year.

3. The Royals farm system was not deep last year, and four of the five arms they traded have pitched in major league rotations this year.

“We do not have the same resources that we had at this time last year,” Moore said. To deplete further, when Fangraphs put Kansas City’s playoff chances around 1 percent, would be negligent.

Can they instead get major league or close-to-major league talent in return for their available pieces, notably a haul for Davis, and try to go for it again in 2017? Kelvin Herrera appears capable of replacing Davis as the closer, and outside executives believe the Nationals and Indians in particular would move significant prospects for Davis.

Can they also get some salary relief ? They made three big signings in the offseason, and none have worked out: retaining Gordon for $72 million, signing Ian Kennedy for $70 million and enlisting Joakim Soria for $25 million. That took the Royals to a franchise-record payroll of approximately $131 million.

But the payoff — after two years in the playoffs — has not been there.

“I trust this group of players, they tend to perform best when their backs are against the wall,” Moore said. “But I am certainly disappointed in how we have played so far.”