The Royals kicked off their offseason last winter by acquiring Mike Jacobs, a player so limited in skills that acquiring him made little sense even before considering their superior in-house alternatives. Jacobs has, predictably, flopped, both at the plate and with the glove. On Friday, the Royals topped that move with an even worse one, trading for Yuniesky Betancourt, who might very well be the worst everyday player in the majors, and actually giving up something of value in Danny Cortes, a hard-throwing pitching prospect with command and makeup issues, and Derrick Saito, who projects at least as a lefty specialist if the Mariners choose to push him up the ladder.Betancourt does nothing well on a baseball field. He can't hit and has lost bat speed since reaching the majors. He hacks at everything he sees, and even swings at pitches thrown to other hitters. He has next to no range at short. And he never hustles on anything -- not balls hit in his direction, not ground balls he might have a chance to beat out (well, before he let himself go physically). Other than all that, he's Honus Wagner.Cortes has the stuff to be a mid-rotation starter but doesn't have the command for it and probably never will at this point. But for Seattle, he's worth a flier if there's even a 5 percent chance that he turns it around: He is only 22 and hasn't been tried in the bullpen yet. Saito is a lefty with a fastball that's a tick above average, a curve that has some depth and is effective against lefties, and a usable changeup. He's very small -- listed at 5-foot-9, 155 pounds -- and hasn't pitched at a level appropriate for his age and experience yet, but if Danny Ray Herrera is a big leaguer, Saito can certainly be, too.So Seattle gets two interesting pitching prospects and frees itself of several million dollars in future salary commitments, not to mention the daily pain of seeing Betancourt's name in the lineup. Kansas City needed a shortstop when Dayton Moore woke up this morning, and they still need one now.