Royals Rumblings - News for January 15, 2015

Royals Rumblings - News for January 15, 2015

Sam Mellinger thinks its a bit curious that Ned Yost and Dayton Moore aren't locked to long-term deals.

Moore surely could have had an extension if he wanted. Yost surely could have had more years if he wanted.

This set off some alarms for me, so I made some calls to try to see what was going on. The answer, from multiple places, was nothing. Yost doesn’t think he wants to manage more than a few more years. Moore’s place in the organization is beyond solid. Both are comfortable, both happy, both committed to the cause. More to the point, both will work for the Royals for as long as they want.

I can’t figure out why they wouldn’t want the commitment in writing. I also can’t figure out how they won that Wild Card Game.

Craig Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus still believe in Eric Hosmer in his three-year fantasy baseball projections.

I’m going to make some enemies with this one. I’m not "the guy who still believes in Hosmer" at this point, I’m the guy who still believes in Hosmer. Last year was a bad season, no doubt. He’s been disappointing compared to what we expected, to be sure. He’s been flat out disappointing, outside of 2013, honestly. That said, this ranking reflects that at least in part, while still keeping his upside in mind. Perhaps I’m weighting that too heavily for your liking, and I respect that to the utmost. If you’re not inspired by Hosmer’s .321/.379/.509 slash line from July 1 through the end of the season, then it’s completely legitimate to place him below the Mike Napolis’ and Joe Mauers of the world. Me? I’m a dreamer.

I don't know if you've noticed, but Mike Moustakas pops up a bunch. Hunter Samuels at Kings of Kauffman has noticed, and writes it is a problem.

Consider this: on September 14, Moustakas hit one infield fly ball. That would be the last popup he would hit for the rest of the year. Not just the regular season, but the playoffs as well. In the 96 plate appearances following that game on the 14th, Moose did not hit a single popup. He put the ball in play 75 times, and none of those balls were infield flies.

And yet, his BABIP still looked terrible. He had a .242 BABIP in the last couple of weeks in the regular season – an improvement compared to the rest of his season, but still very bad – and his postseason BABIP was .184. Granted, the postseason BABIP was low partially due to his 5 home runs, but it’s still interesting to see such a low BABIP in a time when Moose avoided popups. Overall in his career, Moustakas has a higher BABIP than expected based on his popup rate, but in the most recent sample, his BABIP was much lower than expected.

Just what I have been looking for - a Bo Jackson image made out of broken bat pieces.

The great @timcarrollart makes the iconic Bo Jackson image out of baseball bat pieces pic.twitter.com/07zhQYvijb

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 14, 2015

Michael Engel has his podcast up about the Royals Hall of Fame, and Brandon Finnegan's role next year.

The Astros acquire Evan Gattis, who the Royals had trade discussions about this winter, from the Braves for a trio of minor leaguers.

The Yunel Escobar era in Oakland is already over, as their off-season churn continues.

Russell Carleton at Just a Bit Outside asks if your team's GM is a genius. Well I'm a Royals fan, so...yea.

Buster Olney does not think the Royals have one of the top pitching rotations in baseball, not even with Edinson Volquez!

MLB.com provides the top ten clubhouse pranks of all-time, including the prank played on our old friend Jeff Francoeur.

Arrowhead Pride is looking at the top moments from the Chiefs 2014 season.

Who could have guessed a college football playoff would be hit on TV?

Terrific long-form piece about the college basketball team at nearby Haskell Indians Nation in Lawrence, Kansas.

Mark Harris of Grantland tries to predict Oscar nominations.

I don't think France understands free speech.

Bitcoin's value has dropped 40 percent in a year, but its doing great.

Your song of the day is Wilco with "Box Full of Letters."