Royals Rumblings - News for June 9, 2014

Royals Rumblings - News for June 9, 2014

As assembled by Royals Review staff:

Vahe Gregorian of the Star sat down with George Brett, who says Dayton Moore was very sly in seeing if he wanted to return to coaching. Brett doesn't seem to eager to return to the dugout any time soon.

"It’s a tough job, dealing with major-league players. They’ve all had success, because that’s how they got to the big leagues, and now they’re not successful and they’re scratching their heads too much. … "They’re all used to being the best players on their teams. Guess what? They’re not the best players on the field any more. Kind of hurts their egos a little bit.

"It’s a never-ending battle. I really believe it’s the worst job in baseball."...

It also doesn't sound like he's up for managing.

"But you do that life for 20 years, jumping on airplanes at 11, 12 o’clock at night, getting into hotels at 3 or 4 in the morning, I mean it just wears you down. "And then I did it for two months as a coach. And God, it was just, ‘What am I doing?’ Holy cow."

Sam Mellinger questions how much impact hitting coaches really make, and recounts this tale from George:

Several years ago, long before Brett became the Royals’ hitting coach, he was sent to Omaha to work with a young player who was having problems with his swing and confidence. After a few days, Brett suggested a tweak in the player’s stance. The player said it was uncomfortable. So Brett — and here’s where you should put down the fork — asked which hand the player uses to wipe with in the bathroom. The player said his right. So Brett grabbed a bat, and asked what would happen if he smashed the player’s right hand.

Well, obviously, the player would have to change strategies in the bathroom and, Brett said, it would be uncomfortable in the beginning. But eventually, he’d get used to it. Brett was speaking from experience. He’d done this bathroom-strategy-change after breaking his thumb one year and, ever since, has made sure he can do all the essentials with either hand just in case.

Speaking from experience at the Bellagio?

Andy McCullough gets it.

The two most productive hitters on the Royals in 2014 are Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain. In Ned Yost’s typical lineup, they bat fifth and seventh. I think analysis of lineup construction is overrated, but that should be remedied. Yost doesn’t. Only one of us has influence on the batting order.

Andy's concert calendar seems more interesting than mine.

Lee Judge has a couple of decent tidbits in his recent column including the fact that Mike Moustakas bunted on his own on Saturday night, and that for all his offensive struggles, Moose has not carried his frustrations over to the defensive side of the ball. For what its worth, Moustakas has 0.4 dWAR compared to -0.7 oWAR this year.

The Royals almost selected Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel and did select Cole Way, the punter for the University of Tulsa who did not play baseball in college. What happened to drafting BASEBALL players?

Close the book on the David DeJesus trade, the Royals traded Justin Marks back to Oakland for cash considerations. Vin Mazzaro, the other pitcher Kansas City received in that trade, was traded to Pittsburgh in 2012.

Our sister site Brew Crew Ball put together rosters full of players if every team had to keep the players it drafted. The Royals come out third in baseball in career WAR thanks to guys like Carlos Beltran, Zack Greinke, and Mark Ellis. Great work Dayton, Allard!

How to watch the World Cup like a true nerd.

Uber is worth $17 billion, more than Avis and Hertz combined. That's also more than Pets.com, Myspace, and Altavista combined.

In honor of Andy McCullough and our injured third baseman, today's song of the day is "O Valencia" by the Decembrists.