Royals Rumblings - News for November 11, 2014

Royals Rumblings - News for November 11, 2014

The Royals are expected to meet with the agent of pitcher Ervin Santana on a possible reunion.

"We’ve got to do this thing with starting pitching," general manager Dayton Moore said on the first day of the GM Meetings. "Quality starting pitching, it puts the game in a rhythm and it provides you stability. That’s the way we need to do it."

The club has cast a wide net, but one of their top targets revived his career in Kansas City just a year ago. The Royals were expected to meet with the representative for free-agent starter Ervin Santana this week at the Arizona Biltmore, according to people familiar with the situation. They also have interest in a collection of middle-tier pitchers like Francisco Liriano, Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson.

McCullough also adds that the Royals have made Torii Hunter a target while keeping contact with Nori Aoki and Melky Cabrera, although Cabrera might be out of their price range.

Jeffrey Flanagan adds a few other pitching names to the list of James Shields replacements

Instead, look for the Royals to search for a cost-efficient starter to replace Shields. They are expected to make contact with free-agents Ervin Santana, Francisco Liriano and Jake Peavy.

Santana and Liriano also rejected qualifying offers, meaning the Royals would have to forfeit their first-round pick if they signed them. And even though the Royals would still get a supplemental pick if Shields signs elsewhere, there is debate in the organization whether each is worth a multi-year deal and a first-round pick.

There is also this:

Kansas City is expected to increase payroll by $5 to $10 million, thus going over the $100 million mark in 2015.

Hey, remember all that good will Dayton Moore saved up this year? How'd you like to blow it in one day?

The #Phillies could have trade partner as #Royals privately discussing whether to pursue slugger Howard. http://t.co/7YUiQ9zaM9

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) November 11, 2014

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Just a formality at this point, but James Shields officially rejected the Royals Qualifying Offer. The Royals can still negotiate with him, but they will receive a compensatory draft pick if he should leave.

Jon Heyman puts dollar signs on what he thinks each free agent could get this winter.

4. James Shields, SP: While the Big Game James moniker, placed on him by former manager Joe Maddon, took a hit in an uneven postseason, Shields is a monster as an innings eater and a true ace (though obviously not as good or as young as Scherzer and Lester). Agent: 5 years, $97.5M. GM: 5 years, $100M. Me: 5 years, $110M.

Our old friend Matt Klaassen at Fangraphs writes about "The Little Things" and finds that Alex Gordon and Billy Butler were among the worst.

"Little Things" is derived by taking a hitter’s WPA/LI and subtracting Batting Wins (park-adjusted wRAA converted to wins scale) so you get just the game response aside from both the average linear weight run value or the clutch/leverage factor.

White Sox slugger Jose Abreu and Mets pitcher Jacob DeGrom were named their league's respective Rookies of the Year. Royals rookie pitcher Yordano Ventura received no votes because the voters were obviously anti-throwing fire.

Alex Gordon finishes ninth in American League Player of the Year voting in the Internet Baseball Awards. Yordano Ventura, Wade Davis, Greg Holland, and Ned Yost all get votes in their respective categories as well.

The Mets are back to doing stupid Mets things. FIRE OMAR MINAYA NOW.

These football fans are the worst.

Fire the Chicago Bears. NOW.

The Oakland Raiders are probably not moving to San Antonio, but don't count on Salina, Kansas quite yet.

Net Neturality is an important topic that no one seems to know about, especially Senator Ted Cruz. So Vox.com has a primer on what you need to know about Net Neutrality.

Gamergate seems to be fizzling out which means I can go back to not really understanding what it was all about.

The next "Joker" could be....Jared Leto?

Your song of the day is Miike Snow with the "Song for No One."