While the final hours before the Major League Baseball deadline produced a flurry of activity not involving the Royals, general manager Dayton Moore flipped the calendar from July to August feeling as though his club benefited from having made deals early in the process.
The last-day eye-opening swaps in the waning hours of the trade window included multi-time All-Stars, a former Cy Young Award winner and four of Baseball Americas Top 100 prospects.
Teams traded 77 players in 30 trades that became official on Wednesday, compared to 43 players traded in 16 moves last year, according to MLB. Those 30 trades on Wednesday broke the previous high-water mark of 18 in 2016.