There’s something cooking in Kansas City, and no, it’s not a beef brisket sandwich with a side of fries and a strawberry soda at Oklahoma Joe’s Barbeque… not matter how delicious that sounds. For the first time in what feels like the days of the Oliver North Trial, the Kansas City Royals are pulling out all the stops to make a run at their first playoff appearance since 1985 when they won their only World Series title in franchise history.

2013 proved to be a turnaround year for the Royals as they posted their first winning season (86-76) since 2003 (83-79). Even weirder than that is their previous winning season before 2003 was in 1993 when the team went 84-78. In fact, up until this last season the number three had been an especially haunting number within the franchise as the Royals brass couldn’t quite settle on a suitable third baseman to replace Alex Gordon... I mean Mark Teahen... I mean Joe Randa…

I mean Dean Palmer… I mean Craig Paquette… I mean Gary Gaetti… I mean Gregg Jefferies… I mean Kevin Seitzer… I mean George Brett, who did in fact retire at the end of the 1993 season. Actually, to be fair to General Manager Dayton Moore, the team has only made three moves on any third basemen three times, the most notable of which came when Moore drafted Mike Moustakas in 2011. The jury is still out on that one.

Jokes aside, Moore has done his best to field a highly competitive team on a budget that peaked this last since at roughly $81.5 million during his tenure. The lowest point for Moore came in 2011 when the budget was roughly $31.6 million, the lowest in the Majors. This is an uncommon problem when the owner of your team was once the President and CEO of Wal-Mart.

But alas, after trading top prospect Wil Myers to the Tampa Bay Rays for James Shields and Wade Davis, signing Jeremy Guthrie to a three-year deal, trading practically nothing for Ervin Santana and getting stellar offensive production from catcher Salvador Perez, All-Star first baseman Eric Hosmer and designated hitter Billy Butler, the all but forgettable Royals made themselves known and had no plans making it a fluke as the 2014 season approaches.

So what did they do, they made a trade for a new outfielder in Norichika Aoki and they signed free agent second baseman Omar Infante to a four-year $30.25 million deal, their biggest multi-year contract they’ve given to a position player since Moore signed Jose Guillen to a three-year $36 million deal. This deal was a critical move by the Royals who had gotten rough offensive years at the keystone from the likes of Elliott Johnson, Chris Getz, Jamey Carroll and Yuniesky Betancourt.

In 2013 Infante posted his best average (.318) since he hit .321 with the Atlanta Braves in 2010. He also crushed double digits in home runs (10) and 50 or more RBI (51) for only the third time each in his 12-year career. Defensively, he’s good for about five errors per season at second base, but keep in mind that Infante has been used at shortstop, third base and at all three spots in the outfield numerous times throughout this career.

Thankfully their American League Central Division rivals, the Detroit Tigers, put an end to multiple positions when they reacquired their former-1999 prospect in 2012. One thing to note from his original time (2002-2007) and most recent time with the Tigers (2012-2013) is that last season is the only time he has hit over .277. Luckily for the Royals, his 2013 numbers against the AL Central were .331 with three home runs and 19 RBI, Royals excluded. For his career he’s hitting .283 with 20 home runs and 77 RBI against AL Central, Royals stats excluded.

Based on the dollars and cents, not to mention necessity, this move is definitely a step in the right direction. Along with the free agent signing of Jason Vargas, the Royals are certainly all-in for 2014 as they are on pace to post the highest payroll in franchise history and actually have a healthy, complete team to put on the field pending everyone gets out of Spring Training safely.