If Only

ESPN.com has a column in which the author talks about baseball's failure dynasties. Not surprisingly, your Kansas City Royals are one of them. The methodology is a little sketchy, but by any stretch they qualify. Within the column he lists five bad moves the organization made (presumably what he feels are the five worst I would think).

I would have to argue with his first two which involve trading Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye. Yes, those were bad moves. On the other hand, we all know about the economics of baseball and what that means for a team like KC. Perhaps, the author meant that the terribleness was just in what they got back. It doesn't really read that way though.

Two other bad moves are clearly impossible to argue. The Colt Griffin/Roscoe Crosby draft and the hiring of Tony Muser may not be the worst things this team has done, but they are pretty bad.

It's the final move that is most intriguing, however.

4. Passing on a chance to move to the National League.

My friend the Evil St. Louisan loves to remind me of the fact that the Royals had the opportunity to move to the National League Central, and decided against it. That is the same National League Central that allowed the 83-79 Cardinals to be in first place and go on to win the World Series. The last time the Royals finished 83-79 in the American League Central, they finished third (7 games out of first).

It's not hard to dream of how things would have been different had the Royals switched leagues. A light hitting team isn't as much of a problem, and some of the Royals pitchers have showed as much pop as the rest of their lineup anyway. There would be an extended rivalry with the Cardinals as the teams competed in the same division. And if the team made it to a point where they were in contention, they would only have to deal with one of the teams with a payroll of over $120 million instead of four.

If you wish in one hand...