The Kansas City Royals have to be thrilled about their performance at the trade deadline. They entered with clear needs that had to be addressed if they had any desire to contend for a postseason spot and they addressed them all.
Did the Royals blow anyone away when it came to their moves? No. They opted for smaller-scale deals that gave them an undoubted boost now and didn't mortgage the future by any means considering they still have an uphill battle to obtain October baseball.
This means though that they both bested some teams at the deadline, but also had inferior deadlines to others.