I have to give it some thought on where to start. There is so much to do here.

DFA Guillen, play Kila every day, look into dealing Butler for a nice package, deal Soria, wait for the cavalry.

with Gordon and prospects (possibly Melville) to bring in Yunel Escobar. Deal Soria and Butler and play Kila

See what you can get for Soria. In the draft take Taillon if he falls or go with Machado.
Start Aviles at SS every game.
Give Brayan Pena some reps over Kendall.
Try & sign Greinke long term.
Give Kila some PT but keep Butler.

bring up Wil Myers, Moose, Monty, and Hosmer in July… just for a week. just for fun.

start Kila monster every day. have every promotion center around him.

cater to Greinke’s every whim.

trade Soria if he brings in some good value.

possibly trade Butler for the same reasons.

tell Gordon that 3B is his, and he will be in the lineup everyday.

the first move would be to change that philosophy and focus solely on getting PT for the up-and-coming talent, which means benching Betancourt, Guillen, Kendall, Podsednik, etc.

Most of the elite talent in the organization is in the high A - AA level, by the time they are ready to contribute Greinke and Soria will likely be gone or at least on the downhill slope of trade value. I would try to maximize their value by trading them now to fill in some more prospects at A/AA - then everyone peaks together, and in 2014 we’re having a parade on the Plaza.

The first thing I do is take Betancourt on a drive into the country with my shotgun and a shovel. I don’t think Aviles is the answer long term at SS, but he’d get the nod after Betancourt’s mysterious disappearance.

The next thing I’d do is shop everyone on the major league roster. I would focus on getting players that can play up the middle: C, SS, 2B, and CF. The Royals have a pretty decent stable of pitchers already in the minors. I wonder if I could get Hack-Ju Lee and a decent low-A prospect for Soriano. Grienke could fetch a King’s ransom of elite pitching prospects and position players. Or something like that.

I’d also try to avoid rushing some of the more elite prospects. I think that’s been the problem with that organization in the past. I know that’s hard to do while blowing the major league roster up — as I just suggested, but I’d fill the big club with retreads and projects, and older prospects that had previously been blocked. We’d suck for a couple of years, but what’s new about that in KC?

1. Let’s started with the DFA’s-Kendall and Betancourt are gone.

2. Hillman is gone too, his success in Japan just didn’t translate to the majors.

3. Guillen is a sunk cost at this point, so see if you can get an arm for him by paying his full contract. You won’t get more than a C/C+ type prospect for him, but something is better than nothing.

4. With some of that roster clutter gone you give Kila the DH spot for the rest of the year to see what you have with the guy. Same with Aviles at SS and Pena at C.

5. Gordon comes back up and is locked in at 3B. Tell him it’s his job and he’s not going to get yanked around, so just relax and play baseball. Callaspo takes the 2B job with Getz on the bench. Butler is your 1B unless you’re absolutely blown away by an offer for him.

6. See what the market is for Soria. Don’t trade him unless you’re getting a great deal, but at least see what is out there.

7. Lock Greinke up for as long as possible. You only have 2 more years of control in the current contract and this isn’t going to be a quick fix. Do what you can to tack on another 3-4 years onto that contract. If you can’t do that…you probably have to consider trading him in the offseason or by the 2011 deadline. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.

8. Hope that Podsednik hits well enough into July that you can trade him for something at the deadline. There isn’t much choice but to play him otherwise, there just isn’t anyone ready for the job. When Ankiel comes off the DL put him in RF and hope he hits enough you can deal him too.

9. Don’t rush the kids on the farm! Crow and Montgomery are the most advanced prospects you really have at this point, but outside of a September callup as a reward for a good year, they aren’t in the plans until mid-2011 at the earliest, more likely 2012. Moustakas and Hosmer are rebounding, but don’t push them too hard. They could use the success to build on.

10. Draft wise, I’d be looking at Pomeranz and then Tallion/Whitson. I’d consider Colon/Machado too. The Royals have shown they’ll spend money on the draft, so I’d try and see if I can get a little extra cash to be aggressive with a couple of overslot types.

11. Be a player in the IFA market.

12. Without a major bump in payroll you’re not going to have much to spend in the FA market this winter, but teams like the A’s and Padres can build good bullpens on the cheap so I’d definitely be trying to the same. You will likely have openings in CF and RF so look for some former top prospects that need a second chance(or a first chance in some cases).

You’re going to have a couple of lean years until the farm really starts paying off, but that also gives you time to let guys like Kila and Aviles show if they can stick on your roster.

fire hillman, trade soria for a nice package, play young guys, keep being super aggressive in bring in amateur talent.

C: Kendall/Pena
1B: Billy/Ka’aihue
2B: Getz
3B: Callaspo
SS: Aviles
LF: Gordon (once he is comfortable out there and the bat gets going, won’t take long)
CF: Maier
RF: DeJesus

start filtering in prospects as they are ready, some should be by this year or next: Crow, Montgomery, Moustakas, D. Robinson, Lough, Giavotella, maybe others.

it’s really not that hard. just stop signing mediocre vets and just let the young guys play. follow the plan you wanted, which was building over 60% of your roster from within.

For starters, I would trade Grienke, Soria, and everyone else on the major league club who had any value. In return I would want a top flight pitching prospect, one or two middle infield prospects, and at least one power hitting corner prospect. In the draft, I would take Yasmani Grandil in the first round and sign him for slot money. Then I would stock up on high upside players in the rest of the draft trying to get as many impact players as possible. I would keep Trey Hillman, but fire most scouts and anyone involved with developing prospects while bringing in top flight talent developers as coaches throughout my minor league system.

The problem is that guys like Guillen, Farnsworth, Betancourt, and Ankiel make a lot of that money.

they could have a really nice rotation in a few years headed by Greinke and Montgomery. If they could find a few all star caliber players and some more average to above average guys, they could easily contend in a not so strong but very competitve division.

hmmm… I give up.

1) It all starts with the draft. For the Royals who need some talent injected in the higher minors right now, target a starting pitching prospect in the draft who can be ready within two years. It would be a safe pick and the fans wouldn’t like it unless it was a consensus pick, but it needs to be done. The Crow pick was an excellent job last year and he’s going to provide some major relief to that rotation. Throw in another top college pitcher and suddenly the rotation is not as bad, unless Greinke is gone by then. The Royals have used a lot of money in the draft the last few years, and they need to continue. Find some mid round high school gems, and take top offensive college players from rounds 2-5 (unless there’s a potential gem). They will rise quickly as well and provide some pop hopefully in a few years.

2) This would not make people happy, but go with a Podsednik/Dejesus/Guillen outfield. God knows this team isn’t competing, so the defensive loss isn’t going to hurt. The main point of this move is to give Ka’aihue the DH job and an everyday shot.

3) Start Aviles, but don’t DFA Betancourt. Again, the Royals are playing for the future, and god forbid Aviles is injured again, they’ll be playing Getz or Bloomquist at shortstop. He’s obviously a bad teammate, but you can get rid of him after the season. They have no one to pay shortstop right now besides Aviles or Betancourt, might as well see what Aviles can do and keep Betancourt as insurance.

4) The Alex Gordon demotion reminds me of the Chris Iannetta demotion except the Rockies are playing for the division. Let Gordon regain his grip in Triple A, but when that average is cracking .300 sustainably, just let him start. The Royals aren’t playing for the playoffs anyway so let him learn.

5) Don’t give up on Hochevar. His 2009 season was definitely not as bad as the ERA seems and take away his 9 run start and the ERA looks really passable. He’s the number 1 pick, the talent is there.

6) This move is going to require eating money. It’s a real shame Gil Meche feel apart after those two great years after he signed that contract. Given the Royals ate his contract, I bet the Royals could’ve gotten a good return for him. Evaluate him at the deadline, set him on the market (but don;t shop him), and if he’s pitching better, get something for him.

7) Copy the A’s process with the bullpen.

There’s really not much they can do without firesailing Grienke, Butler, and Soria, but that would kill the fanbase and they would have no money. The best they can do is trade those player and they’re about a year away from free agency and try to sign them long term. Their farm system is good and coming along, another great draft and it would one of the top in the MLB. I also think it’s unfair to fire Hillman when he’s been given nothing.