Royals begin retooling for 2015.

Yuniesky Betancourt career line: 279/302/393
Willie Bloomquist career line: 266/324/334

For a marginal (at BEST) upgrade at shortstop, the Royals have traded away one of their top pitching prospects, a guy who would have been competing for a rotation spot next year and is only 22 years old.

Unless there is an injury to Cortes that we don't know about, this is just an abysmal trade that makes no sense for a team struggling to stay out of last place.

Uhg. I mean... ugh...

clipped from www.kansascity.com Cortes, 22, was the organization’s minor-league pitcher of the year in 2008 but is just 6-6 with a 3.92 ERA this season at Class AA Northwest Arkansas. He joined the Royals in the 2006 trade that sent reliever Mike MacDougal to the White Sox.