The Yankees wanted to draft Billy Butler in the first-round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. The Royals, however, had arranged a pre-draft deal with Butler and he honored the agreement even though he worked out for New York the day before the draft. "We liked him. Obviously, we liked him. We had him down in Tampa for a workout," said Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer. "I actually threw him batting practice. We were almost in the middle of the second round of BP. I don't know, but a parent or someone said, 'That's it, you don't need to hit anymore.' "It wasn't because we had seen enough. It was because he knew he was going to Kansas City ahead of us."