Royals Rumblings - News for November 4, 2014

Royals Rumblings - News for November 4, 2014

Jeffrey Flanagan writes that Royals General Manager Dayton Moore has some immediate roster decisions to tackle.

While there were some rumors floating during the playoffs that the Royals' playoff run suddenly had them thinking they could be in the Shields free-agency sweepstakes, don't believe it. Shields' price tag is likely way out of reach for the small-market Royals....

At what price would the Royals say OK to bringing Butler back? Those with knowledge of the situation say it probably would be around two years at $6 million a year. The question, of course, is whether Butler, who hit only nine homers this year, would command more than that on the open market.

Hope you enjoyed the Royals run because Fivethirtyeight's Neil Paine thinks the odds aren't high for the Royals to return.

The truth is that most World Series entrants fail to return within the next few years. It’s hard enough to make it to one World Series, let alone two in the span of five seasons. MLB’s current playoff structure ensures a high degree of randomness, with mechanisms in place to prevent the best teams from running the table. The Royals are most likely to fade away like so many other World Series teams have throughout baseball history.

Hunter Samuels at Kings of Kauffman writes that the Royals success proves there are many paths to success.

If there is one thing this Royals’ season should have taught us, it’s that there is more than one way to build a winning team. The Royals may not be the model of winning baseball, but they absolutely are a model.

The 2014 Royals showed that you don’t necessarily have to have a high-octane offense to win games, as long as you make up for it in other ways. This team made up for that lack of power by putting the ball in play, having a lot of speed, and keeping the other team from scoring many runs. I’m sure they would have liked to hit more home runs. Who wouldn’t want to hit more dingers? It’s the quickest way to score a run, so of course the Royals wanted to hit more of them.

Their reliance on so-called "small ball" was borne out of necessity, but it was only possible because of the skillsets of the players Dayton Moore acquired and developed. The Royals made it work because they had players who could make it work. They didn’t have the most talented lineup, but the players possessed characteristics that allowed them to find other ways to score runs instead of the home run.

Eno Sarris of Fangraphs writes that former Royals pitcher Jake Odorizzi had one of the top ten smartest quotes from a player this year.

"[Alex] Cobb’s is more straight down than mine -- I have the tilt and the run a little bit."

The context makes this quote. Odorizzi is talking about his splitter with respect to Alex Cobb's splitter. He's pointing out that their movement is different despite the fact that Cobb taught him his splitter grip. Two guys, of similar height and weight, throwing the same grip out of what looks like the same release points... you'd think they'd throw the same pitch, really. But they don't, and that's why pitching is so complicated. Turns out, the angle between their head and arm is different, as is the pronation in their hands upon release. Grips are great, grips are cool, and grips are only one little part of the picture.

We have our first "THIS is the year the Indians finally surprise everyone!" article of the off-season.

James Shields was just one free agent offered a Qualifying Offer. Who else had their free agency value mitigated?

Brazilian outfielder Paulo Orlando was added to the Royals 40-man roster. The 28-year old hit .301/.355/.415 with 6 HR 63 RBI and 34 steals for AAA Omaha last year.

The Cubs officially introduced Joe Maddon as their new manager at a bar, and he ordered a round of drinks at the presser.

Here is your National League Offseason Preview.

College basketball season is upon us, so countdown the SB Nation Top 25.

Inviting Rutgers to the Big Ten was a great idea.

David Glass is no Mikhail Prokhorov.

Did Louis C.K. quit Twitter for good?

Vox lets you know what you need to know about today's elections.

RIP Tom Magliozzi, co-host of NPR's "Car Talk". Here's why his show was so popular.

Here's the disgusting process how McRib's are made. Makes you want to drop $11 at Taco Bell.

Your song of the day is Phoenix with "Sometimes in the Fall."