Royals general manager Dayton Moore said it’s way too early to make any judgments on the upcoming free-agent market, but he indicated he expects the Royals to survey the market with the intention of finding a good bargain or two for 2020.

Moore, speaking to reporters at the General Managers Meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., reiterated that the Royals, who have lost over 100 games two straight seasons, plan on adding to their core with some select free-agent signings. It is believed the Royals are looking for bullpen help along with a veteran starter or two.

“I think it’s too early to tell about the market,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of talented players out there. As you know, the free-agent market is very unpredictable.

“In our situation, we have a strong core of young players, and we’re going to stay committed to them. But we’ll look for opportunities for a free agent or two. I don’t think we’ll stand out there and lead the way or anything like that. We’ll monitor it and do our due diligence.”

Moore expects the American League Central to continue to improve in 2020, and he included his team in that group.

“Minnesota had a really good year,” Moore said. “Cleveland has really good pitching. The White Sox are really talented, and I expect them to get better. Detroit is putting together a good group of players, and they have an experienced manager.

“We’re not going to put limitations on our team. We expect our team to win a lot more games than we have. It’s up to us as a baseball operations department to add players to the mix.”

Moore also expects his team to respond to new manager Mike Matheny in a positive manner.

“Mike is a special person,” Moore said, “and he has benefited greatly from being in our organization for over a year.”