Seattle ? Dayton Moore is the general manager of Kansas City Royals. He’s getting ready to draft players for the Atlanta Braves.

Royals manager Buddy Bell has a new boss. He has never met him.

Welcome to the woebegone Royals’ bizarre week.

Owner David Glass fired Allard Baird on Wednesday after five full seasons as GM and hired Moore, the Braves’ assistant general manager. But Moore is still in Atlanta. He is finishing his duties for general manager John Schuerholz, which includes Tuesday’s draft.

Moore’s first day of work for the Royals is Thursday, when Bell will meet his new boss for the first time.

“Never been in this situation before. It’s an unusual feeling, to say the least,” Bell said before his team played the Seattle Mariners. He has been in the major leagues for 18 years as a player and another eight as a manager.

Bell and some Royals players are saddened to see Baird go, though none are surprised. Glass had said on May 4 he was disgusted with the team’s performance and would soon make “significant changes.”

“Allard Baird is a very dear friend,” Bell said. “I trust in him explicitly. It’s sad.”

Outfielder Matt Stairs is in his third season with Kansas City. The 38-year-old platoon player is the clubhouse leader of this perennially young, transient team that has been constantly rebuilding it seems since, oh, about when George Brett last played for them in 1993.

Stairs is not pleased with how the Royals treated Baird at the end.

“Allard’s smart, very smart. He knows baseball. He will move on.”

Stairs also has never met Moore.

“But I hear he’s gutsy,” he said.