Increasing inventory while gaining financial flexibility.

“Our motivation behind this deal -- and any deal that we make this winter,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore acknowledged, “is to acquire as many zero-to-three service-time players as we can. That was certainly what we did here.”

Players with less than three years of service time, with a handful of exceptions, are not eligible for arbitration. That generally limits their salary, again with a few exceptions, to less than $500,000.

And money matters for the Royals -- despite plans to maintain a payroll that set a club record last season in surpassing $70 million.

“We’re in a time in baseball where the economics are very important,” Moore admitted. “I would not discount that as a part of the equation.