“In a small way, I feel like we’ve won the World Series.”

Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore said the quote above. As some of you might know, Dayton Moore hasn't won the World Series with the Royals. When, might you ask, did he say this? After finishing 86-76 and missing the playoffs.

After taking over on June 8, 2006, one day after the MLB Draft that year, Moore recognized that the Royals weren’t ready to contend. He began a rebuilding process that really hasn’t finished in its ninth year, but he claims that the Royals are true playoff contenders.

On paper, the Royals look to be on the cusp of the playoff race, but their roster just isn’t that good. Moore is ready to deal prospects for deadline help, but the Royals should instead trade Moore for a GM who knows what to do and replace certain members of the old regime.

On-Field Performance

Since Moore became general manager in the middle of the 2006 season, he’s excused for the Royals’ 62-100 record that landed them in last place. Here’s how the Royals have fared under his direction.

The good news is that the Royals look to be trending upward. They are on pace for their second consecutive season above .500, and figure to be in the playoff race once again. However, the driving force behind the 2013 run was pitching, and the Royals currently have the seventh-highest xFIP in the Majors at 3.99. Even though we’re seeing a pitcher-dominant era, the Royals still place below the league average for most hitting stats.

Essentially, the best thing going for them is defense, where the team Ultimate Zone Rating is 45.9, well ahead of the second-place Reds, who rate at 32.6. Interestingly enough, most of the Royals are mediocre in that respect, except for the amazing He also has a faction of players in the locker room who are acting pretty immaturely. Yost is okay when it comes to filling out a lineup, but he does nothing to improve his players.

Free Agency and Trades

In his tenure, Moore has been somewhat inactive in free agency. But both of his big deals were flops. First, Gil Meche signed for five years and $55 million prior to the 2007 season. He didn’t finish the deal, and although SIERA pegged him at 4.23 and 4.01 in his first two years as a Royals, he was worth 9.1 fWAR over that span.

The next season, Moore signed Jose Guillen to a three-year, $36 million contract. In 2008 and 2009, Guillen combined for -2.6 fWAR. He played around replacement level in 2010 before an August DFA and trade to the Giants.

As with free agency, Moore preferred to make many small deals instead of a few big ones. So far, the two biggest deals he’s made were in the winter, one trading way Zack Greinke and the other acquiring James Shields.

Even though no player the Royals received turned into a star, the haul of Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi, and Jeremy Jeffress remains decent. The Royals got two starting position players, a piece that would go into the Shields deal, and a relief prospect that busted.

The Shields deal is where we run into problems. Unlike the trade where Moore gave away Melky Cabrera for Jonathan Sanchez (so for free), the Royals knew Wil Myers’ ceiling. They traded Myers, Odorizzi, Montgomery, and Patrick Leonard to the Rays for Shields and Wade Davis.

That’s a fair price for the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, etc. Shields is one of the game’s better pitchers, and it should have taken a lot to acquire him. The problem is, the Royals weren’t one player away. That was a trade one makes if they’re loading up for a playoff run, and while it certainly sent a message that the Royals intended to compete, the message also said the Royals were somewhat delusional about the makeup of their squad.

What the Royals Should Do

If I’m in charge, I admit that I’m after a World Series, not just a playoff appearance. We at numberFire have the playoff odds for the Royals at 21.4%, with just a 0.6% chance of winning it all. Dayton Moore has announced that the Royals will be buyers, but the best thing to do would be to sell.

A few years ago, Joakim Soria was closing games for the Royals, and Moore never traded him for prospects at the deadline. With the short shelf life on closers, it’s not a bad idea. Soria got hurt, and left the Royals in free agency. Greg Holland and even Wade Davis are considered elite relievers, and with a somewhat weak supply of top relivers available, Moore should at least dangle them this month.

The Royals don’t need a total rebuild, but they aren’t really ready to compete in the playoffs. Billy Butler’s bat has gone cold without a known cause, leaving Gordon, Perez, and Cain as the only above-average bats in the lineup. In the rotation, Ventura and Shields are the only two players who could actually start in October.

Grantland Editor-in-Chief Bill Simmons once said the best way for a general manager to keep his job for a long time was to bottom out and start a long rebuild. That way, whenever the owner would question the lack of success, the GM would just point to the rebuild as an excuse to stay in power. Sound familiar, Royals fans? Fire him now, before he further mortgages the future.