GMDM Gems

General Manager Dayton Moore (GMDM) has been the Royals’ GM since 2006. In the time since then, the Royals have made the playoffs once. However, despite the lack of multiple playoff appearances and sustained success, Dayton Moore has been fairly adept at finding productive players from the dregs of the MLB, the so-called “diamonds in the rough.”

For those of you casual Royals fans out there, I am not referring to the Diamonds in the Rough promotion the team used to have. If you are not familiar with this promo, the Royals would bring out some poor schmuck form the stands, blindfold them and then have them crawl around on their hands and knees looking for a diamond hidden in a small area on the field. I wish I had the foresight to tally up how many people failed to find the diamond in the allotted time. Because NO ONE ever found a diamond.

So I thought I would take a look at some of those hidden gems that Moore has added to the Royals and who have produced or are producing in multiple ways for the Boys in Blue.

After basically stinking it up for all of 2014, Kendrys Morales has 20 RBI’s and 3 home runs for the Royals so far this season, and he has been a fantastic replacement for former DH Billy Butler. He had 8 home runs and 42 RBI’s in all of 2014 while posting a measly .218 batting average. At his current pace, he will surpass both those totals.

Alex Rios similarly had an ugly 2014, but was seemingly rebounding back to his career averages before a pitch earlier this season broke his pinkie and set him back a month. Rios averages 17 home runs and 25 stolen bases a season for his career, but produced only 4 home runs and 17 steals in 2014. Assuming he continues to play the way he did before the injury, he will prove to be a great pickup by Moore.

Chris Young, who on Friday night pitched almost 6 innings of no-hit baseball against the Tigers, was sitting on his couch when he got a call offering a shot at playing for the Royals. He has been a pleasant surprise, throwing 14 strikeouts so far for KC in 2014. He has allowed only 4 hits and 2 runs in 6 games for the Royals.

Ryan Madson, who had been out of baseball since 2011, has also been a solid addition to the KC bullpen this season. In 10 games, he has allowed 6 hits and 2 runs while striking out 14.

Jeremy Guthrie, who had seen his career floundering for the Rockies after leaving the Baltimore Orioles in 2011, was picked up by Dayton Moore in a trade for a similar struggling pitcher (Jonathan Sanchez). Guthrie has 34 wins for the Royals since 2012, the most by any Royals pitcher in that span (even more than James Shields!).

All of the previous players still play for the Royals, but it is worth remembering a former Royal. Ervin Santana, who was practically washed up after 2012, was signed by Moore for 1 year and had one of the best seasons of his career. In 2012, he gave a league-high 39 home runs, but lowered that number to 26 in KC, while posting the lowest ERA of his career in the 4th most innings he pitched in one season.

Although Dayton Moore has not seen the success he probably would have liked in his tenure as Royals’ GM so far, he certainly has worked some magic to find the players above. And currently, the Royals are tied for the best record in all of baseball, so Moore and all of KC can finally taste the sweet success of Moore’s diamonds in the rough panning out.

Go Royals!