Royals Rumblings - News for July 3, 2014
The signing of Ibanez means Jarrod Dyson goes back to a utility role, writes Jeffrey Flanagan, even though he's been fantastic this year.
It would appear now that Ibanez wasn't brought in just to be a role player or pinch-hitter off the bench -- Ibanez is going to get a chance to take the job in right field, at least on those days he doesn't need to rest his 42-year-old legs....
But the Royals -- desperate to score runs -- now are willing to sacrifice some of that defense with Ibanez in right in hopes his bat will provide some pop to an offense that has stagnated at times since the 10-game winning streak.
Just last week, Dyson was asked if he felt he could be the team's everyday center fielder. "I know I can -- there's no 'think' I can," Dyson said. "When you come into the major leagues, you want to play every day. That's the mindset you have to have.
The Royals shipped Michael Mariot back to Omaha and brought back reliever Casey Coleman. Will you be able to tell the difference?
A few nuggets have been leaked from the book written by legendary Royals scout Art Stewart, released this week.
2) Stewart says Royals had a deal with Deion Sanders to play baseball out of HS. Fell through when he got a Corvette to go to FSU.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) July 2, 2014
The Star's Vahe Gregorian talks Royals, James Shields, and the season thus far.
There's a really good discussion on pitching between former Royals pitchers Mike Boddicker and Brian Bannister on 810 WHB, where they discuss what's wrong with James Shields and what we should expect from Danny Duffy going forward.
Ken Rosenthal suggests the Nationals could trade Bryce Harper - someone check on billybeingbilly. What would it take to get Harper in Kansas City? EVERYTHING. Do it.
Cross Seth Smith off your "potential right-fielders the Royals could acquire" list.
Baseball Prospectus re-does the 2011 Draft, allowing the Royals to take a mulligan on Bubba Starling.
John Sickels gives his take on the Christian Colon promotion.
I know this is hard to do, but forget that this guy was fourth-overall and concentrate on what he actually does on the field. You will see a contact hitter with a sound sense of the strike zone. His physical tools are nothing special, but he's fundamentally sound, especially on defense and on the bases. I think he's best at second base, but he's not terrible at shortstop, where his instincts and quickness help him cover for lack of cannon arm strength or superior range. This is a typical utility profile.
With the bat, he makes contact, avoids strikeouts, and can bunt. He had a strong second half in 2013 (.320/.385/.460) and has continued to hit reasonably this year, particularly against left-handed pitching. Historically, some players with Colon’s profile (so-so tools but fundamental soundness and contact hitting skills) show unexpected offensive development in their late 20s,and perhaps Colon can do the same thing.
If Christian Colon had been a fourth-round pick rather than a first-rounder, he would be seen by the prospect community as a sleeper and potentially useful asset, rather than a disappointment
In case you missed it, the Royals promoted pitcher Christian Binford from Wilmington to AA Northwest Arkansas. Binford will represent the Royals at the Futures Game in Minnesota during All-Star week.
Royals catching prospect Cameron Gallagher gets profiled by his hometown paper, which celebrates the fact he was named a Carolina League All-Star, despite hitting just .211 with no home runs.
Grantland gives us the ten songs to jam to in 2014. These are the songs the Royals will nominate for the sixth inning sing-a-long in the year 2044.
Ten choices to play the male lead in True Detective, Season Two. I'm still disappointed they're not going with Ned Yost and Andy McCullough.
Your song of the day is one of the most patriotic songs I can think of - Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A.":