<table> </table> Just in case any Royals fans were dreaming of <strong>CC Sabathia </strong>ending up here instead of Milwaukee, it was never going to happen.</p><p>Royals general manager <strong>Dayton Moore</strong> told me that while he had internal talks about Sabathia, he never inquired of Cleveland what it would take to make a trade.</p><p>&#8220;It just wasn&#8217;t going to be a fit for us,&#8221; Moore said.</p><p>The Royals wouldn&#8217;t have gone after Sabathia without some degree of confidence that they could sign him long-term. Sabathia, who becomes a free agent this winter, turned down a $72 million, four-year contract extension from Cleveland.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about mortgaging the future,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;For what we would have had to give up, it would have been the equivalent of say, <strong>Mike Moustakas</strong> and others. We&#8217;re not prepared to do that.&#8221;</p><p>Moore certainly isn&#8217;t saddened that Sabathia is now out of the division.</p><p>&#8220;He made our left-handed hitters better in the long run with the challenge of facing him,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;We came up on the short end of the scoreboard against him quite a bit.</p><p>&#8220;Cleveland makes the right decisions when it&#8217;s time to let guys go.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Royals have statue</span></strong></p><p>As part of the festivities leading up to next week&#8217;s All-Star Game, there are baseball-themed Statues of Liberty all over New York City.</p><p>The Royals&#8217; Statue of Liberty is located at One Liberty Plaza in lower Manhattan.</p><p>Also, <strong>George </strong><strong>Brett </strong>is expected to be one of many former All-Stars who will take part in a red-carpet parade on Tuesday. Brett and this year&#8217;s All-Stars will ride up Sixth Avenue on flatbed Chevy trucks. The parade begins at Bryant Park and ends at Central Park.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Elvis sent down</span></strong></p><p>Doesn&#8217;t seem that long ago when the Royals were counting on <strong>Runelvys </strong><strong>Hernandez </strong>as their ace.</p><p>These days, Runelvys is busy trying to stay in baseball. He told the <em>Houston </em><em>Chronicle </em>that he thought he was going to be waived by the Astros after recently being pounded for 13 hits and 10 runs in four innings.</p><p>Instead, Houston demoted him to Class AAA.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s another life,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s good. That&#8217;s another wake-up (call).</p><p>&#8220;It looks like the team cares about me, and I&#8217;m not going to put my head down. I&#8217;m going to go there and work hard and try to get back.&#8221;