Royals Rumblings - News for November 20, 2015

Royals Rumblings - News for November 20, 2015

The Royals want to see Bubba Starling make his big league debut next year, and be a regular in 2017, writes Jeffrey Flanagan.

Starling, the Royals' No. 5 prospect, is having a solid season in the Arizona Fall League, posting a .770 OPS with four homers and 10 RBIs to go along with his defense that general manager Dayton Moore has described as "Major League ready" right now....

The rapid ascension of Starling has brought smiles to the faces of the Royals' front-office staff. "He's just a different hitter now than what we saw of him a few years ago," Picollo said. "There haven't been many major mechanical adjustments. He did have this little waggle with his hands when he was loading that used to slow down his swing and made him late on everything. "We worked with him to get rid of that, and finally last year we saw that happen. He's just quicker to the ball. He's more confident, more mature."

Clark Fosler looks at what that might mean for this year's off-season.

That variable is the interesting part of the optimistic organization timeline. It tells me that the Royals are looking at one corner outfield spot and seeing Dyson, Orlando, Jose Martinez, maybe Brett Eibner (speaking of parks, age and batting average, .384 is .384!) and then Starling. It tells me that the organization is thinking Gordon OR Zobrist at one corner outfield spot and going ‘internal’ for the other.

They could perhaps add a one year veteran reclamation project for 2016 as well. You know, it worked with Melky Cabrera and sorta, kinda if you squint right also did with Alex Rios. We could also take the fun scenario here (dollars be damned!) and read the above to mean Gordon resigned to play left, Zobrist resigned to play right in 2016 and then sliding in to play second in 2017 when Bubba Starling arrives and wins a Gold Glove in right. That sounds fun, but sadly unrealistic.

The Royals must finalize their 40-man roster by today, so Flanagan looks at who might be protected.

The data shows the Royals are gaining fans. Plenty of room on the bandwagon!

The New York Philharmonic pays up on its bet with the Kansas City Symphony

You can stream Royals games from your tablet or phone in Kansas City, so long as you have a cable authentication.

Baseball will be making recommendations for extending netting to protect fans from foul balls.

Dustin Nosler at Hardball Times looks at the five most dubious MVP winners.

Shelby Miller may be part of the house-cleaning in Atlanta.

Philadelphia's Ken Giles may be another young pitcher on the move.

Anthony Castrovince looks at some bargains on the free agent market, including old friend Joe Blanton.

Sporting KC's home stadium will now be known as "Children's Mercy Park.'

Andy Van Slyke hints that Clayton Kershaw wants Yasiel Puig off the team.

Should the NHL reinvent itself to stem low scoring?

Some NFL players on teams that relocated reflect on the experience of picking up and moving.

Is Anonymous' war on ISIS doing more harm than good?

A man asks questions to himself, then answers those questions 38 years later.

Billboard released its list of greatest rappers of all-time.

Same rare, odd collectibles for Star Trek fans.

Your song of the day is Snow with "Informer."