Sweeney's entire future with the club after three years as a part-time catcher looked bleak. He'd just bought a house in a Kansas City suburb, but now there were trade rumors. So he drove to the home of pitching coach Tom Burgmeier and asked him what he thought.
"He looked me in the eye and said, 'You want the truth, kid? Well, you've got a zero percent chance of being a Kansas City Royal this year,'" Sweeney said. "I said, 'Zero?' And he said, 'I was just at a meeting earlier today and they like you as a person, but they said you'll never catch another day as a Royal.