KANSAS CITY -- At the Winter Meetings last December, Royals general manager Dayton Moore conceded that rough times were ahead.
"It's going to be challenging," he said.
Moore recently had brought home back-to-back pennants and subsequently a World Series championship in 2015. But much-needed trades for Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist in 2015 had depleted Moore of several pitching prospects, including talented left-hander Sean Manaea, now with Oakland.
And rather than trade off Kansas City's best assets from those 2014-15 teams as they approached free agency, Moore mostly went all-in in '16 and '17 with hopes of reaching the postseason once again with his core group.