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Royals Rumblings - News for November 18, 2014

How will the deal with All-Star Giancarlo Stanton affect the Royals negotiations with All-Star Aaron Crow?

By Max Rieper
Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

Royals Rumblings - News for November 18, 2014

Hunter Samuels at Kings of Kauffman is not a fan of rotating the designated hitter spot next season.

As I mentioned above, the Royals would like to rotate their DH spot throughout the season, giving Perez, Gordon, and Cain some time there. Each player could potentially produce a solid batting line as a DH, but the Royals shouldn’t want to play them there very often, because each player is incredibly valuable defensively, and their backups are not likely to contribute at an above average level. Only Jarrod Dyson can adequately fill in for Cain defensively, but giving bench players regular playing time would only remind everyone why they are bench players.

Besides, in the case of Perez, his disastrous second half of the season was possibly caused by not getting enough days off. Instead of just giving Perez a half-day off, why not let him take the entire day off? If his offense was at an elite level, I could understand the desire to have his bat in the lineup every day, but it’s not. Perez is a fine hitter for a catcher, but he has a career wRC+ of 104. Forcing that into the lineup, instead of giving him an entire day of rest, is not worth the risk, particularly when a full-time DH should produce a better batting line.

The Royals interest in Jon Lester is now SIGNIFICANT.

Craig Brown at Royals Authority notes some odds and ends about Ned Yost.

Last year, Yost used 51 pinch hitters, the fewest in the majors.

The most frequently used pinch hitter? Come on down, Raul Ibanez. The old man got 10 pinch hit plate appearances. He walked once and hit a double. That’s it. Oof. That’s a .111/.200/.222 pinch hit line. Insert snark about "professional at bats" here. Meanwhile, the second most frequent pinch hitter for Yost was Billy Butler. Butler came up eight times, had one walk, was hit by a pitch and collected four hits – including a home run – in six official at bats.

Notable was the fact Yost used 14 of his pinch hitters in the 10 games the Royals played in National League parks.

Pinch hitting is difficult. It’s not surprising someone line Butler, used as a designated hitter for most of the season, can come into a game directly off the bench to do some damage. Collectively, the Royals pinch hitters produced a slash line of .209/.320/.395 in those 51 plate appearances.

Mike Bauman at MLB.com writes the Royals raised the bar for bullpen performance.

The Giants and the Royals became role models in this area, demonstrating in the glare of the October spotlight what kind of bullpens were needed to win in the contemporary game. They set a standard to which other clubs now reasonably aspire. The problem is, wanting a bullpen that good and having one that good remain two distinctly different situations.

Planning on getting a 20-game Royals package for next year? Don't plan on getting an Opening Day ticket with that.

The Royals announced pitchers and catchers report to spring training on February 19, and they released their 2015 spring training schedule. They'll face off against the Giants in a World Series re-match on March 23. NO MADISON BUMGARNER PLEASE.

Jeremy Guthrie visited the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. In full uniform, for some reason.

Fun day for the baseball Hot Stove yesterday. Giancarlo Stanton signed a crazy-pants deal with the Marlins, the Braves shipped Jason Heyward to the Cardinals to play the game the right way, and the Blue Jays brought Canadian catcher Russell Martin home.

The Kansas City Chiefs are continuing the year of successful Kansas City sports. Here is Arrowhead Pride with your playoff picture for the boys across the parking lot.

Kansas plays Kentucky tonight, the top team in SB Nation's college basketball ranking.

Oklahoma Joe's is no more. Meet "Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que."

Women have reached the 100-member mark in Congress, but still lag far behind in state legislatures.

Aaron Sorkin does not understand the internet.

Jon Stewart slams CNN while appearing on...CNN.

Here's more on the SB Nation "It's On Us" campaign to combat sexual assault.

Your song of the day is The Breeders with "Cannonball."

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