Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that's just what happened to the Kansas City Royals this season. Slammed by a bizarre series of injuries to key pitchers, and driven by a persistent search for mound depth, circumstances forced the club to sign a group of unemployed big league veterans from which it hoped help might somehow come.
But given the subjects of the exercise — a collection of experienced ex-big leaguers fighting against the odds to make it back to the majors — chances for success were never good. And predictably, nothing much came from the project, which, together with the playoff drive the Royals wanted it to bolster, died in September.