Royals Rumblings - News for August 6, 2014

Royals Rumblings - News for August 6, 2014

Jeffrey Flanagan says the Royals hacking ways aren't working on offense.

Though the Royals don't hit for power (last in baseball with 62 homers) and therefore need all the baserunners they can get to score runs, they simply refuse to walk. They are last in all of baseball in walks (256) and walk percentage (6.2 percent).

And if you go deeper into the statistics, you'll see just how much of a free-swinging, hacking team the Royals are: Only Seattle has seen fewer pitches this season than the Royals. According to baseball-reference.com, the Royals have seen 15,464 pitches (65 more than Seattle), which is almost 1,800 fewer pitches than Boston, which has seen the most. Boston is fourth in baseball in walks with 384.

It is probably no coincidence that Oakland has drawn the most walks (412), seen the fourth-most pitches (16,815) and scored the most runs (548) in all of baseball. The A's, ahem, also have baseball's best record.

Having a bat on your bench is a luxury, so James Shields and Jeremy Guthrie are on hand to pinch-hit if needed this week.

"If I get in a situation where I don’t want to burn a player, Shields can hit," Yost said. "If I get in a situation where I don’t want to burn a player, Guthrie can bunt." The reluctance of the Royals to replace Hosmer with another hitter is twofold: Yost indicated the team preferred a right-handed-hitting veteran, and their minor-league system has unearthed few candidates. Plus, Yost does not want to cut ties with any of the relievers in their eight-man bullpen.

"Shields is a .400 hitters this year," he said. "In case you have noticed."

Royals 2012 first round pick Kyle Zimmer has had a frustrating season but still hopes to contribute this season.

After missing all of this season because of a strained latissimus dorsi muscle, Zimmer has resumed throwing off a mound and could join one of the organization’s affiliates in two weeks. Once there, he will start games in brief bursts, two innings at the most, perhaps starting as low as Class A Idaho Falls. Rather than waiting for him to build up arm strength to work at a five-inning clip, the organization intends to expose him to live competition before this season ends.

The Royals still project Zimmer as a future cornerstone of their starting rotation and plan to stretch him out after the regular season, most likely in the Dominican Winter League. But he could reach the majors this September as a reliever. After a lonely stay in the desert, the possibility resembles an oasis.

Sam Mellinger doubts Ewing Kauffman would have been a free-spender in the modern age of baseball.

A lot of people who knew him well say Mr. K was growing increasingly frustrated at the changing economics of baseball, and that he was never a man who liked to lose money at anything.

One man who knew Kauffman fairly well said he’d have sold the team sometime after the strike, but if not, would’ve run the Royals generally like David Glass has done since 2008. Those last two words are important, because no matter how much people hate when I point this out, Glass has generally been a very good small-money owner since 2008. The Royals are 19th in payroll this year with revenues around 28th, for instance.

The biggest difference is that the Royals would not have had the devastating board-of-directors years that killed the franchise’s mojo and turned the team into an industry-wide joke. Also, one person who worked with Kauffman swears he would’ve wanted the Royals to switch to the National League when given the chance before the 1998 season.

Royals fans are tuning in to watch a competitive Wild Card-chasing Royals team on television.

Legendary scout and Royals Hall of Famer Art Stewart was on the MLB Network discussing his new book and the signing of Bo Jackson.

The "Sung Woo is coming to Kansas City" story is gaining a lot of local media attention. The Star has more coverage of @Koreanfan_KC's arrival at KCI here.

Former Royals Hall of Famer Frank White won his first political race, winning the Democratic nomination for a Jackson County Legislature seat.

Should the Wild Card game be a two-game series?

Development has started to sprout around Omaha's new suburban ballpark for the Stormchasers. Will they be as lucky as us and get a Taco Bell and Denny's near their stadium?

Sucks to see "Sports on Earth" get dumped by USA Today and lay off much of its staff.

Spider-Man is finally getting a female super-hero in his universe.

The claims that fish oil are good for your heart are based on studies no one apparently read that never really said that.

Your song of the day is Phoenix with "Lisztomania".