The Kansas City Royals are one of the hottest teams in baseball, an American League-best 14-3 since the All-Star break. Because of their recent hot streak, they have surprisingly pulled within playoff contention. While they are still seven-and-a-half games behind the Detroit Tigers, who are equally as hot, in the Central Division, the Royals sit just four back of the Texas Rangers for the last Wild Card spot.

Despite showing potential to be a contender, Kansas City remained quiet at the trade deadline, only dealing for outfielder Justin Maxwell from the Houston Astros.

Maxwell has payed dividends already, hitting a pinch-hit two-run homer against the New York Mets in extra innings on Saturday to put the Royals ahead for good. He, however, is not the impact player one would expect a contending to deal for in order to take them to the next level.

General Manager Dayton Moore knew what he was doing at the trade deadline, as staying put was the best decision he could make for his Royals.

Here’s why.

They were not expected to make the playoffs at the beginning of the year, and the odds are still against them making it to the postseason for the first time since 1985. However, the way the team has been playing right now gives them a chance to shock the world.

Would it be nice to add maybe another bat to the lineup? Of course it would. But is it worth it? No. Not now at least.

If the Royals still continue their torrid pace for a few more weeks, they could make a move before the August 31st waiver trade deadline to gear up for a September run. Staying put even then, however, may not be a bad idea.

The Royals are a team built for the future, with names like Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Jarrod Dyson, Lorenzo Cain, and Salvador Perez all piled up together to bring the Kansas City a winning team for the first time in decades, and giving up the future would not make much sense.

The team already gave up top prospect Wil Myers in a trade to acquire pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis from the Tampa Bay Rays, but they could afford to give him up due to their plethora of young talent and need for pitching.

Trading away more young prospects at this stage and jumping the gun would not set the team up to be a contender for years to come.

This crop of Royals has proven that it can win, but if it misses out on the postseason in 2013, nobody should be too disappointed. The future will remain bright regardless of what happens, and giving up some of the key ingredients for future success in order to win before they were expected to could really come back to bite them.