Dayton Moore came to Kansas City wanting to build a homegrown team, primarily through the draft. He came from the Atlanta Braves, an organization that had developed Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Javy Lopez, Rafael Furcal, and Kevin Millwood. The Royals organization had been preaching building a team through "homegrown talent" for decades, but ownership had skimped on scouting and development for years, a strategy that was penny-wise, but pound-foolish.
Under Dayton Moore, the purse-strings loosened. The Royals were free to spend more money than ever before on amateur players, which led to record draft bonuses for players like Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, as well as record bonuses for international players, such as the millions spent on Cuban pitcher Noel Arguelles.