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For the first time in a long time, the Kansas City Royals have a team that should provide hope to their fans. Despite being near the bottom of the American League, the Royals should not make any big moves before the trade deadline. The Royals lineup has young talented players, who are all under contract for several more years and can help the team win in the future.

Billy Butler is their best hitter this season with a .290 batting average and 16 home runs, and third basemen Mike Moustakas is putting together a solid season, batting .268 with 15 homers and 47 RBI. Alex Gordon is not the superstar they expected when he first came through their system, but he is developing into a solid starter in the big leagues. Jeff Francoeur has been the biggest disappointment offensively this season, with a .251 average and seven homers after batting .284 with 20 homeruns last season. The Royals are 7th in all of baseball for team batting average, and are in the top 18 for both on base and slugging percentage. All of the components are there offensively, but their pitching has let them down this season.

Their team ERA, WHIP, and BAA are 4.35, 1.43, and .268, which rank 24th, 29th, and 27th respectively. Royals' GM Dayton Moore has publically discussed the possibility of trying to go out and get a big name pitcher like Zack Greinke or Cole Hamels before the trade deadline, which has excited Royals fans, but may not be best for the team. Greinke began his career in Kansas City, and although he is a talented pitcher, it was not the best place for him. Hamels is going to be a free agent at the end of this season, so the Royals would be foolish to give up a lot for him, and they do not have much to offer Philly in return.

Wandy Rodriguez is another player whose name has been thrown around the rumor mill, but the Astros would be seeking too many top prospects that the Royals cannot afford to give up.

The Royals are 9.5 games back in a competitive AL Central, and 7.5 back from the second Wild Card spot. They would be better off saving the lineup that they have, and trying to go out and spend money on free agent pitching in the off season. Francoeur is a name that the Royals would not mind giving up, but they would need to give up too much in addition to him to get any of the big name players on the bubble. One pitcher is not going to be enough to get the Royals into the playoffs this season. The Royals have one of the top farm systems in all of baseball, so if they continue to develop the talent that they already have within their system, and to sign players in the off season, they will be poised to make a run to the top of the AL Central sometime in the near future.