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Royals Rumblings - News for January 19, 2015
Buster Olney writes the Royals have the fourth best outfield in the game.
Alex Gordon was an AL MVP candidate for much of last season, and if the Royals had won the World Series, you could've made a case for Lorenzo Cain as the World Series MVP.
Meanwhile, some folks in opposing organizations are pleased that Jarrod Dyson is only a part-time player so far because of his impact on the basepaths and in the field; he had 290 plate appearances in 2014, and it appears he will serve basically as the fourth outfielder again. The Royals are betting that Alex Rios will be better than he was last season with the Rangers, when his power simply disappeared. He hit just one homer after May 14 -- in 352 plate appearances.
In case you missed it, the Royals exchanged salary figures with their seven remaining unsigned arbitration-eligible players.
#Royals arb figures via AP: Cain asked $3.6M/Royals counter $2M Duffy $3M/$1.75M Dyson $1.6M/$900K Herrera $1.9M/$1.15M Holland $9M/$6.65M
— Chris Fickett (@ChrisFickett) January 17, 2015
Continued: Hosmer $6.7M/$4.6M Moustakas $3.1M/$1.85M
— Chris Fickett (@ChrisFickett) January 17, 2015
David Lesky at Pine Tar Press takes a stab at how things will shake out with arbitration.
I think Mike Moustakas is absolutely delusional, but what can you do there? He hit five postseason home runs, and the hope from everyone, including his camp is that he’s turned a corner and will hit 25 home runs in 2015. I don’t know that there’s a comp out there that would allow him to win. I could see settling in the middle or so at $2.5 million. Danny Duffy is interesting because the numbers show that he’s worth well more than $3 million, but his injury history should give the Royals some pause. I talked about a long-term deal with him during the 2014 season, and I think that’s still a possibility now. Knowing the relationship between Duffy and the Royals, I doubt this will become an issue. If nothing else, they’ll end up around the $2.5 million I think Moustakas gets.
MLB.com writer Tracy Ringolsby says relationships are more important to Ned Yost than guaranteed contracts.
More than the contract status of other managers, however, Yost was focused on what's happening with the Royals. And when it came time to talk extension, it was Yost -- not the Royals -- who was focused on one more year. Why? General manager Dayton Moore is signed through 2016, and if that's good enough for Moore, it's good enough for Yost....
Grant Bribee is looking forward to the Nori Aoki era in San Francisco.
I am a bigger Norichika Aoki fan than you are. I can prove it. Can you match this fandom? An outfield with Aoki in left and Hunter Pence in right is the dream of any discerning baseball blogger, especially one who likes to make Vines that are scrubbed from existence after a week. They will collide at least once in the outfield, despite neither one ever logging an inning in center field.
The Blue Jays have jumped in the bidding for James Shields as the asking price drops.
Just four dudes (Salvador Perez, Noel Arguelles, Cheslor Cuthbert, and Humberto Arteaga) hot-tubbin' together in Arizona.
New Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez is one of the pitchers Paul Casella writes could be hurt by a pitch clock if it ever happens in the big leagues.
See ya, Max Scherzer! Maybe he signed in Washington to be teammates with Kila Kaaihue?
No surprise, Cardinals fans were voted the most insufferable fans in baseball.
ZIPS projections are out for our division rival Minnesota Twins. Erv Santana has become the mythical 1 WAR pitcher!
Congrats to Jeff Zimmerman for winning a Fantasy Sports Writing Award!
Hey! FanGraphs won an award! Or, really, the excellent @jeffwzimmerman won an @fswa award for his MASH series on health issues. Congrats!!
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) January 17, 2015
Al Yellon at Bleed Cubbie Blue looks at a possible solution to MLB's blackout problem.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno won a bunch of games over the weekend.
The NCAA power conferences voted on their own to start giving players greater stipends.
Vox explains the lack of diversity in Oscar nominations.
Grantland's Steven Hyden likes Syfy's reinvention of a television version of Terry Gilliam's cult classic "12 Monkeys."
Letting your kids walk home from school by themselves can get you in trouble.
Elon Musk wants to spend $10 billion to build the internet...in outer space.
Your song of the day is Sleater-Kinney with "Good Things."