Prior to Dayton Moore taking over the General Manager position for the Kansas City Royals, Allard Baird held the position since June 2000. Under Baird, the team traded away key players in Jermaine Dye, Carlos Beltran, and Johnny Damon, all who went on to become prominent players in the league and winning a World Series with a team not named the Royals.
After a slow start to the 2006 season, Baird was out as GM and Moore was in. The Royals under team owner David Glass had never been as interested in the international free agent prospects prior to Moore taking over.