Royals Rumblings - News for December 16, 2014

Royals Rumblings - News for December 16, 2014

Mark Bowman of MLB.com writes about potential trade suitors for Justin Upton. The Royals are probably out now with Alex Rios in the fold, but here's what he had to write:

Royals: While the Royals would likely be hesitant to include Kyle Zimmer, they might need to include left-hander Sean Manaea to get Upton. The Braves might also be interested in Miguel Almonte and Scott Blewett, a couple of other power arms in Kansas City's farm system. Atlanta asked for Yordano Ventura when the Royals expressed interest in Evan Gattis last month. Kansas City is certainly not going to part with Ventura for what might be one year of Upton.

The Alex Rios signing may not mean the Royals are quite done shopping yet.

#Royals very may well fill starting rotation void with free-agent signing, according to sources

— Jeffrey Flanagan (@jflanagankc) December 16, 2014

Could a Chris Young or Kevin Correia be in our future? Exciting!

Third base prospect Hunter Dozier and manager Vance Wilson talked about their experience in the Arizona Fall League.

"During the season I got a little too wide in my base and Vance helped me get back to my old stance," Dozier said. "We also worked on changing my contact point out front and Vance really helped me with that. It was feeling really good at the end."...

"I think it was huge for Dozier in that he learned what you have to do to face those top-notch arms," Wilson said. "You don't see many 88-91s in this league. You're facing 93-97 with good quality out pitches. The biggest thing is he quit chasing the stuff down and away , which he's done in the past."

Hunter Samuels at Kings of Kauffman gives us a bit more on Yohan Pino.

Pino throws mostly a fastball, slider, and changeup, but he’ll mix in a few curveballs and sinkers as well. He’s not a high velocity guy, with his fastball sitting a tick above 89 MPH. He can reach back and touch 92 on occasion though. His slider is his best swing-and-miss offering, though it’s not elite in that regard. Pino gets more fly balls than anything else, which should play well in Kauffman Stadium. However, he’s also been dinger-prone, allowing 8 homers in those 60 innings with Minnesota, along with 9 more in 73 innings at Triple-A last year. Seems like opposing hitters were really barreling him up.

Fangraphs recently posted a bunch of videos of prospects, including a few Royals players. Here is 2014 draft pick left-handed pitcher Erik Skoglund.

Boulevard releases its Royals-themed beer "Crown Town Ale" and here's the Star's review of it.

One taster remarked that the slightly hazy beer tasted a bit like Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat, with more tang. Another joked that it tasted like "Moustakas in June."

We all agreed that even on a gray and gloomy December afternoon, Crown Town Ale took us back to summertime.

"I would totally slam this after mowing the grass," said one taster. Another said she could picture sipping Crown Town Ale at the K.

But is it full of grit?

Former Royals slugger Billy Butler will be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Dayton Moore will be the speaker at the Garden City Chamber of Commerce annual banquet in February.

Royals spring training tickets went on sale yesterday if you want to see Mike Moustakas hit some bombs.

Bubba Starling shot a deer in a blatant attempt to kiss up to Manager Ned Yost.

Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs writes that even with their big splash this off-season, the rival White Sox are still not a very good team.

The Dodgers will guarantee $10 million to Brett Anderson, or more than $1 million per start, most likely.

Grant Brisbee with an interesting piece about his experience at the Winter Meetings and his quixotic attempt to get a credible, printable rumor.

The Braves are such defeatists! Even in their stadium rendering for their new ballpark, they are losing.

The Astros worked out a settlement with the draft pick they screwed over.

Jorge Posada and Jose Contreras were caught up in an unfortunate multi-million dollar scam.

Congrats to Nate Bukaty, named new play-by-play man for Sporting Kansas City.

UEFA Champions League draws were announced, and once again the Big 12 was passed over.

Jon Gruden signs a contract extension to say "this guy...is a guy" for ESPN for years to come.

Bill Simmons asks fans of that Washington professional football team if things are so bad that they'd give up their team for three years for an expansion team, if it mean they could get rid of owner Daniel Snyder - and their fans say YES.

The whiz kid who supposedly made $72 million in the market probably didn't.

"The Newsroom" frustratingly ended its season.

Your song of the day is Duran, Duran with "Rio."