Royals Rumblings - News for November 19, 2015

Royals Rumblings - News for November 19, 2015

Ben Zobrist met the Mets, but wants a four year deal.

League source says Mets are "very interested" in Ben Zobrist. Had a conference call with him today, also met his reps at GM meetings

— Tim Rohan (@TimRohan) November 18, 2015

About 10 teams interested in Zobrist, tho, and most are contenders. He’s hearing them out. Wants a four year deal and to play for a winner

— Tim Rohan (@TimRohan) November 18, 2015

Andy McCullough was on Buster Olney's podcast and was pessimistic about Zobrist's or Alex Gordon's chances of returning. He expected the Royals to use the money to look for starting pitching. (h/t thelaundry)

Joe Posnanski doesn't understand why Ned Yost didn't get more support for Manager of the Year.

Few have written more "Ned Yost baffles me" columns than I have. Still, I have to admit that when I look at the voting for Manager of the Year this year, I’m every bit as baffled as I am by any Yost decision. The first-place votes went to:

Jeff Banister: 17

A.J. Hinch: 8

Paul Molitor: 2

Joe Girardi: 2

John Gibbons: 1

All of these managers had teams with worse records than Yost’s Kansas City Royals. Paul Molitor’s Twins, in particular, finished 12 games behind the Royals and never once threatened in the division. Did these guys really do a better managing job than Yost? If positions were swapped, would all of these managers have led the Royals to the American League’s best record and a World Series championship?

John Sickels grades the prospect status of Raul Mondesi.

Raul Mondesi, once again, impresses all scouts and observers with his physical tools, but generates mixed opinions about his future projection. If you think the hitting skills will come, he’s a future star. If you think the hitting skills will stay substandard, he’s a mediocre regular at best or just a reserve. Personally I’ve gone back and forth on him. I was pretty optimistic around mid-season after being impressed with his defensive work and buying into the offensive projection, but then his bat fell apart again late in the year (1-for-22 with 14 strikeouts in September) and I had a slump-concurrent negative report from a trusted source to add to the mix.

Eno Sarris looks at 2016 Cy Young contenders and thinks Yordano Ventura could be one.

So we return to the American League to find our final Cy Young sleeper. There's another young man who has Cy Young stuff who also improved greatly in the second half last year. Yordano Ventura is 24 years old, has a big fastball and added a strikeout and a half to his second-half K rate in 2015. Yes, Ventura might not get the most out of his high velocity, but with an improvement on that front, Ventura would have a scary repertoire. His changeup is probably more average than plus, but his curveball got the sixth-most whiffs among starters this past year, and most of his second-half improvement came from throwing it more.

Interest in Korean free agents is beginning to surge, with outfielder Ah Seop Son expected to warrant a posting fee between $5-12 million.

Son is the current object of scouts’ attention — and has been for years. Kim said fellow big league scouts took notice of Son years before it was clear he’d have interest in the majors. Son’s on-base percentage has been north of .400 each of the past three seasons, in which he’s averaged 14 homers while playing in the hitter-friendly KBO circuit. Son, who’ll turn 28 in March, is a left-handed hitter with a great sense of the strike zone. "He is a feisty type of player that will annoy you as a pitcher," Kim said.

"He’s not intimidating but he well make your life miserable and foul a ton of pitches off." He’ll arrive in North America two years younger than his comp, Aoki, with "a little more pop," Kim said. The unnamed executive concurred with that assessment — Korean players tend to "know how to manage an at bat," he said — but added that Son has a little less speed and glove than Aoki.

The Royals re-sign infielder Dusty Coleman and pitcher Aroni Nina to minor league contracts.

The Royals are looking for an analytics intern.

The Royals are trailing the horse in Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year" balloting so VOTE.

Marlins Man visited a Lenexa elementary school.

Here is where you can buy tickets for the premiere of the Royals World Series movie that will come out later on DVD, to be shown November 23 at the Music Hall.

Former Royals manager Buddy Bell, now with the White Sox, receives an award for player development.

Bubba Starling is impressing people down in the Arizona Fall League.

#Royals Bubba Starling and #Yankees Gary Sanchez have both shown tremendous improvement in their games. Both showing big league quality play

— Bernie Pleskoff (@BerniePleskoff) November 18, 2015

The Tigers address their bullpen woes by acquiring Francisco Rodriguez.

The same scout once drafted both Cy Young winners - Jake Arrieta and Dallas Keuchel.

Former Royals pitcher Jesse Chavez is attracting a lot of trade interest in Oakland.

The Indians may be swapping a starting pitcher for an outfielder.

Texas manager Jeff Banister won AL Manager of the Year I guess because the Royals were such big favorites to win the pennant this year?

Former big leaguer Russ Branyan was arrested for breaking into his ex-wife's house and turning down the thermostat.

Alex Brudnicki at Hardball Times writes about being a female baseball reporter in a male-dominated industry.

Former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie has his parents die within one hour of each other.

Will Rhonda Rousey ever fight again?

Porzingis-mania is overtaking Knicks fans.

Doctors want to ban prescription drug ads.

Here are your 2015 National Book Award nominees.

The Man in the High Castle, based on the Philip K. Dick novel, may be the second-best show Amazon has ever made.

Your song of the day is Stereophonics with "Dakota."