The inner contradiction of Dayton Moore has never been pulled and stretched and contorted the way it is at this very moment.
Moore is a hopeless baseball romantic. He has told the story many times of driving with a friend to watch the 1985 World Series from the hill behind left field of what was then Royals Stadium. He would not have taken the job as general manager if he did not feel a boyhood connection to the Royals.
Throughout a two-year obstacle course that included some calling for his job and a World Series championship, he was simultaneously dedicated to planning and building an urban core baseball academy that he has called as important as anything he does for the Royals.