I hope you can forgive a bit of rambling in this article, as a I am not even in high school yet.

My humor revolves mostly around things like ASDFmovie, and Gangnam Style.My friends and I play violent games like tennis, where one slaps the others hand and vice-versa until one of the players wimps out. Our sleepovers revolve mainly around games like Dead Island, Left 4 Dead, and MLB 2K12. (The last one is just me and my best friend)

In the past Dayton Moore has made decisions like we might at 2:00 in the morning when we are playing 2K12, and the case of Diet Code Red Mountain Dew (I have type 1 Diabetes, so we drink diet) is nearly drained. As I am currently typing this, it is very late on a Saturday night, and I have earbuds in, a laptop on the top of my lap, and the TV tuned in the MLB Network’s “Countdown, Top 25 Comebacks of All Time” But back to the point, Dayton Moore has made some pretty awful decisions since the blind squirrel that is the Kansas City Royals found an acorn in the return for Zack Greinke, but I will break that trade down in another article.

Ervin Santana is a Kansas City Royal. It even feels good to say. It is not even the best case scenario, but it is progress, and it is better that the previous news rush that Chris Volstad is a Royal. My hope with that pick up is that they hope they can fix him, and if they can’t, such as life. They cut him and pay him nothing. Let’s attempt to avoid that topic though. Santana was absolutely horrific this past season, posting a 5.16 ERA, -1.6 WAR, and a 1.27 WHIP, all while being paid 11.2 million dollars, Santana did though put up 178.0 innings in 2012. Even though there are currently 8 starters on the Royals depth chart, Santana is one of them. Some writers have been complaining that Moore should have gone after Dan Haren. Luke Hochevar was MORE horrific though, posting an ERA, WAR, and WHIP (All previous listed stats other than innings and salary) worse than Santana. I am hoping the Royals non-tender Hoch, but is highly unlikely. Just Rany predicted, Moore acted early.

I hope he acted effectively. He proved he is willing to spend money. Gil Meche was the last time Moore spent legit money on a starter, spending 12 (The option that they picked up on Santana was 13 million, but the Angels also gave Kansas City a million) million on Santana after, well, I am just assuming here, the Angels completely lost hope in him. Every few years he seems to have some kind of collapse, but I bet the Royals will only have him for 1 year. If you have been especially attentive while you have been reading this, then you have probably learned a lot. How strange I am. A great analogy about Dayton Moore’s decision making, and how this is a step in the right direction, and a decent sized one.

The Kansas City Royals are only 3 games into the season, however, they have already given fans much reason to believe things could truly be exciting in 2012.

Coming into this season, there have been a wide array of opinions on what the Royals record might be when the 2012 season comes to an end. The most optimistic of prognosticators predicted as many as 85 wins for the Royals on the high side, while some have picked them to show little to no improvement and still finish last. The first series of the season was sure to be an immediate test, heading out west to take on Albert Pujols and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Not only were they going to have to deal with that extremely potent offensive attack, but they would have to face starting pitchers Jared Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana in succession. So while the world was watching how Pujols would perform on his new club, the Royals took advantage of the attention and showed the baseball world that it is time to take notice.

It is hard to not look at this series and wonder what the possibilities might be for 2012. Consider that the Royals won this series despite the following events:
-LF Alex Gordon failed to record a single hit
-3B Mike Moustakas recorded just one hit
-CF Lorenzo Cain recorded just one hit

Also, despite being shut out in the first game, the Royals responded with 6 runs and 7 runs respectively in the next 2 games, giving them an average of 4.3 runs per game for the series. This happens to be just under the 4.5 runs per game they scored per game in 2011. It definitely appears this team is going to hit.

So while one cannot reasonably expect Humberto Quintero and Chris Getz to hit close to .600 for the whole season, it is safe to assume their negative correction will be more than made up for by Gordon, Moustakas, and (hopefully) Cain’s positive correction. Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler looked to be poised for huge offensive years, and Jeff Francoeur looks to be picking up right where he left off in 2011.

So back to the question: is one series enough to begin raising expectations for this team? The answer is probably no. But when you consider that the biggest question for the Royals coming into the season was the starting pitching, it is difficult to not look at this first series of 2012 as being an extremely positive sign for things to come.

You can debate whether Justin Verlander should be win the “best player in the league” award. There was no debate on if he’d win the “best pitcher” version.

Many baseball fans spent Saturday digging their fingernails into their mouse, keyboard, remote, couches and chairs, waiting to hear the news on what (if anything) their team would do as the 4PM EST trading deadline loomed. For Cardinal fans, after already missing out on such names as Cliff Lee, Dan Haren, and Roy Oswalt, fans were starting to wonder what, if anything, the team could pull off.

After hearing Jake Westbrook’s name tossed around as a possibility for several weeks, fans were not surprised to see it resurface late Friday night. Westbrook looks like a Dave Duncan special: gets a lot of ground balls, first year after being in injury rehab, and the price for him should have been reasonably low. Some figured it would take one, maybe two prospects to wrangle him away from the Cleveland Indians, and the words ‘major league ready’ would not be uttered once about said prospect(s). Imagine the collective shock that went through Cardinal nation when within the course of a frenzied hour or two, Jake Westbrook was indeed headed to St. Louis, but 2008 All-Star Ryan Ludwick was on his way out, as part of a three team deal with the Indians and San Diego Padres. Bill Ivie broke down the deal, reminding a slightly stunned and confused fan base that Ludwick leaving would clear payroll for the looming Albert Pujols contract.

Why did it come down to Jake Westbrook though? Why could the Cardinals not pull the trigger on guys like Oswalt or a big bat to steady a lineup that changes its mind on a daily basis whether or not to crush baseballs or fans’ hearts?

On Friday, once it appeared that the Oswalt trade had been finalized, Astros’ GM Ed Wade appeared on the Mike & Mike show on ESPN Radio. When asked about whether or not he would have been willing to trade in the division, whether it be to the Cardinals or anyone else, Wade answered politically, saying, “It would have been difficult but we were prepared to make a deal there if the talent fit…. That said, at the end of the day we had to make the deal that made the most sense for the Astros. From a talent standpoint we could’ve matched up with a team within the division whether it was the Cardinals or the Reds or Cubs or any club that Roy would’ve been willing to go to.”

Now, I am not going to wax nostalgic about how great it would have been to get Oswalt (although if you want to, you can listen to the full interview here), but I will tell you what I heard here. Trading within the division, painful though it may be, is not a foreign concept. The Atlanta Braves and New York Mets did it just last year – swapping Jeff Francoeur and Ryan Church straight up. Go back far enough in Cardinal history and you will undoubtedly learn about the Cards getting Lou Brock from the Chicago Cubs, in what is possibly one of the most lopsided trades of all time.

The point that Wade was making was that Philadelphia put together the best package. They had the young, talented players required to get a top of the rotation starter. The Cardinals were not even close to being capable of matching that high number of quality players. Not for Oswalt, not for Haren, not for Lee, not without trading away the farm. Again.

There is a reason that the Cardinals farm system is ranked among the worst in baseball, and the assessment is a fair one. The team seems to have been in ‘win now’ mode for several years now, and have made some of the bigger trades in the summer, most recently in 2009. Yes, it was just last year that the Cardinals gave up a total of five prospects to get Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa. They weren’t just any five prospects. The team was willing to part with some of their very top prospects, including 2008 first round draft pick Brett Wallace (who, in a small twist of fate, has found himself as the new starting first baseman for the Astros, starting last night). When you combine trades like those over a number of seasons with a couple of weak draft years, eventually you get to the point where your trading chips just do not match up to other teams, and this is where the Cardinals front office finds themselves today.

Make no mistake, there are still several players left in the system that probably will be major league players, including 2009 first round draft choice Shelby Miller. However, the Cardinals are not the Yankees. They are not fiscally able to go out and buy marquee players just for kicks. At some point, the team needs to take a break from wheeling and dealing and taking a ‘win now’ approach and let their minor league system restock for a bit.

For the big league squad, this might be it for trades on the year. Of course, there is still the waiver wire, and the Cardinals have made deals after the trade deadline in the past (See Woody Williams in 2001). Chances are the front office will soon start commenting on the imminent return of starting pitcher Kyle Lohse and third baseman David Freese, saying that each of these two returning is just like making a deal at the deadline.

Is it enough?

Angela Weinhold covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com, BaseballDigest.com and writes at Cardinal Diamond Diaries. You may follow her on Twitter here or follow Cardinal Diamond Diaries here.

First of all let me say that I loved that the Yankees did not end up getting Cliff Lee. Seeing the Yankees not get everything they want is a good day in baseball in my book.

Now with that being said we will take a look at what the Lee to Texas deals means to the rest of the league and more importantly the two teams in Missouri. If Lee would have gone to the Yankees, the trade season could have ended right then and there. But now that the Yankees have missed out on their biggest target, more trades are sure to follow. It is safe to say that the Yankees will still be in the trade market for another pitcher even though they are publicly saying they were only after Lee. Even if the Yankees are telling the truth the Rays, Tigers, White Sox, Twins, Phillies, Mets, Cardinals, Dodgers and Reds all kicked the tires on Lee. This means that there are still a bunch of teams going after the main targets left on the market which are most likely Roy Oswalt, Ted Lilly, and Dan Haren.

Oswalt has a very short list of teams that he is willing to go to so that basically leaves most of the league now bidding on Haren followed by Lilly. This means two things for fans here in Missouri. If you are a Cards fan it means that the trade market just got more expensive because teams with trade chips have more leverage and because the Yankees did not get their guy in the first round of bidding. The good news in St.Louis is that Lee went to the Rangers and not the Reds, Phillies, or Dodgers. The Lee trade could also mean that teams like the Cardinals now feel like they now have to move down to the second or third tier players that are on the trade market.

If the Cardinals move down the trade list the amount of top end talent they will have to give up will lessen. This in my mind is the best scenario for the team because a rental player seems like a reach for a team that is struggling to stay in the wildcard hunt.

If you are a Royals fan the Lee trade is a great thing because the dark horse team won the auction. All of the teams that were said to be the favorites to get Lee lost out. If nothing else the fact the Yankees, who pay their infield more than the whole Kansas City roster, lost something has to feel good.

It also means that every pitcher that the Royals have just got a little more value added to them on the open market. A player like Kyle Farnsworth now looks like a better option to teams needing pitching help but have realized that a starting pitcher will cost too much in a trade. Players like Brian Bannister and Bruce Chen also are now one step higher on the talent ladder thus demanding another prospect be added to any deal. The last ripple is that some teams might turn their focus away from pitching and on to on base base guys like David DeJesus and Jose Gullien.

In the end the Lee trade has made life on the trade market a little more difficult for the Cardinals, while only increasing the value of the chips that the team across the state in Kansas City has on the table.