Buy, sell or stay: Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals were making a push towards ending their 28-year playoff appearance drought until a five-game losing streak pushed them six games below .500 and 6.5 games behind second-place Cleveland in the American League Central standings entering the All-Star Break. So, what should the Royals do now? Should they buy, sell or stay the course? Let's look at what they have.

Strength: Two strong starting pitchers. James Shields (4-6, 3.21 ERA) and Ervin Santana (5-6, 3.37 ERA) have turned out to be smart acquisitions for the Royals. Too bad their teammates have not supported them. Shields has had 15 quality starts, but he also has had 10 no decisions, while Santana has compiled 13 quality starts and seven no decisions.

Weakness: Lack of run support. Entering Sunday's game against Cleveland, the Royals ranked 23rd out of 30 teams in runs scored (365) and 28th overall in slugging percentage (.374) because no one can hit home runs for them. Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon have been the "most prolific" power hitters with nine homers apiece, while Billy Butler -- who sent 29 balls over the fence last year -- has eight so far.

Buy, sell or stay the course? The Royals have tried to make the core of Hosmer, Gordon, Butler and Mike Moustakas work together, but it hasn't worked. So while there might be some trade value left for them, the Royals should look to sell off at least one or more of them and start over again.