F ind your happy place. Think good thoughts. Put sharp objects out of arm&#8217;s reach. If there are kids around, bring out the earmuffs. You might not like what you&#8217;re about to read &#8230;</p><p>This miserable Royals season might be replayed next year.</p><p>Darn skippy general manager Dayton Moore will take another 90-plus losses next year, if it means his baby moves closer to being all grown up.</p><p>&#8220;Yeah,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Because I want this thing to be right for the long term.&#8221;</p><p>This is not a concession speech, but there does seem an understanding that Kansas City will not be witness to a quick baseball turnaround. In fact, the wider net you cast &#8212; extending throughout the American League Central and beyond &#8212; the more you hear about how far the Royals, in the midst of another disappointing season, are from being a contender.</p><p>Executives from other small-market clubs say that for most of the last decade, their own limited budgets gave them twice as many scouts and twice as much money to sign draft picks as the Royals.</p><p>Officials from other teams say any thoughts of winning next year &#8212; or even the year after that &#8212; ignore just how regressed the Royals&#8217; organization was when Moore and his people took over with an increased commitment from ownership. <em>Below expansion level</em> is a term you hear often.</p><p>Even ignoring the chore of building a better farm system, the big-league level of this potential Royals turnaround is showing, shall we say, growing pains. Dropped pop-ups and bad base running bring back memories of the 100-loss Royals, and many of the core group of young players still expected to bridge toward future success aren&#8217;t showing the immediate impact many hoped for.</p><p>People talk about the Tigers&#8217; turnaround, but they&#8217;ve averaged more than $90 million of payroll the last four years. People talk about the Twins&#8217; turnaround, but they averaged more than 90 losses in GM Terry Ryan&#8217;s first six seasons.</p><p>Even the Indians didn&#8217;t make the playoffs until Mark Shapiro&#8217;s sixth year, and that was after he heard everything but death threats for the way he tore apart the team&#8217;s big-league roster.</p><p>&#8220;(The Royals) have had years and years of not only not winning but not making steps toward winning,&#8221; says Mike Radcliff, Twins vice president of player personnel. &#8220;That&#8217;s where we were, too: at the bottom of the standings, and it seemed like there was no hope, no matter what we did.&#8221;</p><p>&#8226; &#8226; &#8226;</p><p>Maybe the tint of a miserable August is still too strong. Twenty losses in 27 games will do that.</p><p>But there&#8217;s no doubt the bad is outweighing the good right now. Cracks are starting to show, too. Just in the last nine days, Miguel Olivo and Dayton Moore each went public to <em>The Star</em> with their various frustrations.</p><p>&#8220;I thought we&#8217;d be better than this,&#8221; says pitcher Gil Meche. &#8220;Good teams don&#8217;t lose 12 in a row.&#8221;</p><p>Mark Teahen is the guy many fans point to as the example of a setback season. In spring training, he was still considered in these parts a possible cornerstone player, a good athlete with inevitable power and obvious speed.</p><p>He entered the weekend hitting .240 and ranked 73rd in the AL in on-base-plus-slugging percentage.</p><p>Luke Hocehvar, the top overall pick two years ago, went 6-12 and was below the league average in throwing strikes and above it in running 3-0 counts.</p><p>Brian Bannister, third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting last year, had a seven-week stretch during which he was 0-6 and gave up more earned runs than innings pitched. Tony Pe&#241;a Jr. played his way out of the shortstop job and finds his big-league career on the fringe.