About a week ago, a reporter kidded Royals general manager Dayton Moore that his life must be calming down, given that it had been over a week since the latest rumor about him becoming the Braves' new general manager had surfaced.
"It's nice just to focus on my job again," Moore said then.
The rumors should subside for good now, after the Braves announced that they had hired former Blue Jays baseball executive Alex Anthopoulos as their new executive vice president and general manager.
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Again, Moore seemed a bit relieved that the rumor mill would halt as he spoke to reporters from the General Managers Meetings in Orlando.
"I would say [the rumors] distracted me," Moore said. "But it was something on the minds of a lot of people within the organization. I think I have a deeper appreciation for the Atlanta Braves for everything they are going through and how I know strategically they will manage everything going forward to make things good.
"I think Alex Anthopoulos did an unbelievable job in Toronto. He brings a lot of energy. He is highly enthusiastic. He will take his character traits to that chair and begin to make good baseball decisions for the Atlanta Braves."

Moore will continue doing what he has been doing before the rumors started -- navigate the Royals through a significant offseason in which they may be facing payroll limitations while trying to determine which of the nine free agents they have that they might be able to sign.
"I'm very appreciative of the Kansas City Royals and Mr. [David] Glass," Moore said. "We've done a lot of impactful things in Kansas City, and we look forward to doing a lot more in the future."
Groopman heads to Milwaukee
Moore also confirmed that Mike Groopman, who had headed the Royals analytics department, has taken a job with the Brewers in their international scouting department, as The Kansas City Star first reported.
Moore confirmed as well that the club hired Albert Gonzalez from the Marlins to serve under vice president Rene Francisco in the international operations department.