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The Royals' recent struggles? As Bob Dutton writes, Dayton Moore isn't worried:

Royals general manager Dayton Moore skipped out of the club's draft preparations this weekend to journey north of the border for a first-hand look at his struggling club.

His conclusion: There is no need for major changes. The Royals, as bad as things are right now, have no problems that can't be fixed if the club's current players begin to "perform at their accustomed level.”

--snip--

"We just have to get going offensively,” he said. "It's just got to get done. I have confidence in the group that we have. (Few) of our players are performing at their accustomed level.

"Billy Butler is improved. Alberto Callaspo has been steady. Willie Bloomquist has been terrific for us. And the other players just need to start playing to their accustomed level.

"And if that happens, we'll be fine. We're 5 1/2 games out (entering Saturday's games).”

The Royals, before Saturday, ranked 13th among the 14 AL teams in runs, batting average and on-base percentage. They were slightly better, at 11th, in slugging percentage.

"We're better hitters than this,” outfielder José Guillen said. "But it's like some (virus) is going through the clubhouse and everybody is infected.”

With all due respect, José Guillen doesn't know what he's talking about, and Dayton Moore is either delusional or he's not paying a great deal of attention to his sabermetricians (you choose). Below, the 11 regular or semi-regular Royals, along with 2009 and career OPS+'s:

Player Career 2009 Diff. Mark Teahen 99 107 +8 Da. DeJesus 103 75 -28 Billy Butler 100 105 +5 Coco Crisp 94 92 -2 Al. Callaspo 82 107 +25 Mike Jacobs 110 103 -7 Jose Guillen 100 103 +3 Mike Aviles 100 22 -78 Miguel Olivo 78 79 +1 Wi. Bloomquist 76 102 +26 John Buck 82 102 +20

Aviles has failed, epically. David DeJesus has been disappointing, too. But those guys have been largely balanced by surprisingly good numbers from Alberto Callaspo, John Buck and Willie Bloomquist (who currently ranks second in the American League in triples, of all things).

Actually, I suspect that Dayton Moore is afflicted with The Curse of the Optimist, a common malady among men who run baseball teams. He probably figures that the players who are underperforming will come around (which they probably will) and the players who are over-performing will roll merrily along (which they probably will not).

We tend to believe what we want to believe; what we need to believe. And Dayton Moore needs to believe that the team he worked so hard to put together -- the team he has been applauded for putting together
-- actually has a shot at being pretty good (which it does, but that's a long shot).

Postscript: When I first realized that Rany Jazayerli thinks the Royals should trade for Jeff Francoeur, of course I thought he must be crazy. Then I read his reasons, and thought he's completely sane. Then I remembered that the absolute last thing the Royals need is yet another player who swings at every pitch within reach (or not), and I realized that yeah, Rany's crazy.