Trading star players has been the topic du jour in Kansas City this week, after the Chiefs sent star receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins on Wednesday afternoon. It was a bold move for the Chiefs, and one that was more-than-likely a difficult call to make for GM Brett Veach. Royals President of Baseball Operations Dayton Moore knows a thing or two about making tough trades, and on Thursday's episode of Fescoe In The Morning, he revealed which move was the toughest for him.
"Without a doubt when we traded Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi, that deal," he said. "That was difficult because it's always hard trading young players. It was very difficult for us to trade Adam Wainwright many, many years ago from the Braves to the Cardinals, although we were getting JD Drew, and of course Jason Marquis went in that deal as well. But we knew Adam Wainwright was going to be a star. Those are difficult decisions, but you always have to focus on what you're getting in return, and don't be so intent and paralyzed to make a deal based on what you're giving up … When we made the deal when we traded Wil Myers, we knew we needed to start being more consistent in the pitching area. We knew if Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas, and Salvador Perez, and even Billy Butler and Alex Gordon to a certain degree, if they were going to become the consistent producers we felt they could possibly become, we needed to start balancing out the pitching -- so that the concentration was intensified for the entire 9-inning contest. When you're out of the games early at times, you tend to play for yourself, it's natural to do that. You may lose focus and concentration, you may get frustrated along the way. So we knew that was a going to be a difficult deal, but a necessary deal."
You can listen to the entire interview in the player below: