http://www.610sports.com/media/audio...n-moore-studio
Dayton spent an hour with 610 this morning. Covered a lot of ground.
-Still seemed optimistic about Hosmer. Talked way more about him than any other player, by far. They're going to let the market come to them. These things take a long time to play out. Defended his defensive metrics. Said their analytics guys like him.
-Said payroll will probably come down to 110-120 million. But he seems to say that every year. Said they overspent their budget the last two years trying to put a championship team together and it didn't work.
-Made it clear they were not going to tank like some people think they should.
-Despite that, he seemed to talk like if Hosmer leaves, they might just let the other guys walk and start over.
-Talked a fair bit about how they can't build a team now like they built the last great farm system. Before they could budget and outspend other teams in the draft and now that's against the rules. Said the best way to acquire that kind of talent now is to have high draft picks.
-Spoke highly of Nicky Lopez. Said there was a lot of interest in him at the trade deadline but they decided from the start that they would not trade him.
Also talked a lot about Ned Yost getting hurt, and the Chiefs.