Tony DeMarco

SURPRISE, Ariz. - Dayton Moore has seen the pattern before. Chris Carpenter had six big-league seasons under his belt and lost another to surgery before it clicked for him. Jason Schmidt bounced between three organizations before establishing himself as an ace. So did Curt Schilling.

So Moore believes it can happen again with Gil Meche. That’s why he convinced the usually tight-fisted Kansas City Royals ownership to break the mold and give Meche a five-year, $55-million contract in December.

What Moore has discovered since is that others outside the Royals’ small sphere of popularity don’t share in his evaluation of the 28-year-old right-hander. In fact, the Royals’ signing of Meche has sparked everything from outright wonderment from media and opposing front offices to rancor from executives who look at it as Exhibit A in an off-season of excessive spending.

Barry Zito got $126 million over seven years from the Giants, but at least he has a Cy Young Award, a 102-66 record and hasn’t missed a start in six years. Juan Pierre got $44 million from the Dodgers, but he has four 200-hit seasons and two stolen-base titles. Meche? He has a career 55-44 record and 4.65 ERA, compiled predominantly in pitcher-friendly Safeco Field. He’s never won more than 12 games in a season, and isn’t well-known outside the Seattle market, where he was considered more an enigma than a potential ace.

But imagine that — the Royals hacking off other teams by spending too much (never mind that two other teams had offered Meche four years and $40 million). Maybe things will be different in Kansas City—and that’s the point here. After all, the Royals are coming off three consecutive 100-loss seasons and four in the last five. Only an aberrational 83-79 season under Tony Pena in 2003 kept things from getting legendarily ugly.

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Still, we’re talking about one of the worst five-year stretches in history. On top of that, the Royals compete in a division where all four other teams have won at least 93 games in one of the last two seasons. So you can see the monumental task facing Moore, a John Schuerholz disciple from the Braves’ system.

Moore sees it, too. And his plan to improve is centered on pitching. First, by adding quality pitching at the major-league level, and then through signing and developing more in the farm system. Call Meche the centerpiece of the plan – and Moore will take the criticism.

We get ripped if we don’t do anything, and we get ripped if we do,’’ Moore said. “But our ownership is happy, our players are ecstatic, and our fans are excited. It’s not just the quality of his pitches. He’s just hitting the prime years of his career, and he is beginning to develop that pitching skill – how to get people out, make adjustments. We felt we needed to go for this guy right now. We think he is the perfect guy for us.’’

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But Moore’s makeover attempt goes much deeper than Meche. When Moore took over last June, Zack Greinke was wrestling with emotional problems, and trying to recapture his love for the game in Double-A Wichita. Scott Elarton was having shoulder issues to the point where on the nights he started, the Royals were looking at other emergency options. Jimmy Gobble was in the rotation and Luke Hudson was in relief at Triple-A Omaha. Top draft pick Luke Hochevar was unsigned and the most-advanced top pitching prospect was Billy Buckner at Class-A High Desert.

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