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Royals Rumblings - News for June 1, 2014
As assembled by Royals Review staff:
Sam Mellinger points out that despite the offensive woes, the Royals are still hovering around .500 and in this thing because (a) the pitching is so good; and (b) the Central Division is so bad.
Look at the division. Detroit is 6-15 since May 18, and aging in dog years. Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez are terrific hitters, but other than that, shortstop is a huge mess, the bullpen is a wasteland, and there are reasons to believe the pitching (8th in the AL in ERA). The Indians have given half their starts to pitchers with ERAs of 5.89, 5.53 and 4.61. And that’s just earned runs. Their defense is atrocious; nobody has given up more unearned runs. Speaking of crappy defense and pitching, hello White Sox. Chris Sale can’t pitch every game, and this year has missed about five starts. The White Sox are 13th in the AL in ERA, and 14th in runs given up....
There’s a sports writer friend of mine who’s fond of saying: never underestimate the (crappiness) of the other team. The Royals have their weaknesses, but every time you focus on that, remember that the other teams have holes, too.
The Royals inked two of their top three picks yesterday.
Sources: #Royals in agreement with first-rounder (28th) Foster Griffin. He receives $1.925M bonus, above $1.8155 slot value.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) June 10, 2014
Another @Royals signing: @Chase_Vallot (Pick No. 40) gets $1.35 mil, below slot value of $1.4208 mil. @MLBDraft
— Jonathan Mayo (@JonathanMayoB3) June 10, 2014
Left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin will be pitching at Burlington in the Appalachian League this summer. No word yet on where Vallot, a catcher out of high school in Louisiana, will be playing.
Lee Judge has a bit about Luke Hochevar - remember him? He will throw a ball in September after undergoing Tommy John Surgery this spring. He also says he has been pitching with a bad elbow for four years. That's great to know now Luke!
Speaking of injured pitchers, Bruce Chen says he is not ready to face Major League pitching and will make another rehab start for Omaha on Friday. There is no way he re-joins the rotation at this point, right? I can never tell with this franchise.
Royals fans in cat singlets and horse masks? Royals fans in cat singlets and horse masks.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is awesome, and you should read this long, but good conservation between him and Rembert Brown of Grantland.
Jason Whitlock is still a thing, and still not awesome, and is apparently starting a "black Grantland" (that's not its name).
I have made it known that I am a big Ben Folds fan, and I got to see him perform at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center tonight (which is an amazing venue - if you haven't checked it out, do it) and it was AWESOME. So your song of the day is "Effington" by Ben Folds.