Royals Rumblings - News for November 23, 2015

Royals Rumblings - News for November 23, 2015

Clint Scoles at Pine Tar Press looks at some internal options that may be ready to take on bigger roles for the Royals.

The Royals brass obviously would like to place Ben Zobrist there for the most part but with plenty of teams in the market for the World Series swiss army knife it is possibily less than 50/50 that he returns. Should that happen the Royals should take a look at using Colon to fill their need as an everyday second baseman.

It’s no secret that I haven’t been a big fan of Colon but he has worked his way up through the system and shown an ability to make consistent contact in the bigs, make the defensive plays needed while showing that even a World Series pinch hit plate appearance isn’t too big of a moment for him. That is all before you get to the fact that Colon is 7+ years younger than Infante and is in his peak window while Omar is well past it. And what of that World Series hit? With that World Series hit Colon similar to that of Malcolm Butler for the New England Patriots this season. As a Pats fan if you would’ve said the Butler would be given a starting job prior to that Super Bowl most people would have said you were crazy, that one play however gave Butler the equity needed to seize an opportunity. For Colon he has that same chance this spring, a World Series game winning hit could be enough equity to put him in a competition with Infante.

David Laurila at Fangraphs talked to Bubba Starling about his career so far.

"It’s had its up and down, that’s for sure," responded Starling, who was drafted fifth overall by the Royals in the 2011 draft. "My first season was all right, but the next two really weren’t the best."

That’s an understatement. Following a solid rookie-ball campaign, Starling scuffled mightily at a pair of A-ball stops, Fanning frequently, he logged an Escobar-esque sub-.700 OPS. Sculpted and uber-athletic, but wholly without polish, the Gardner, Kansas native looked every bit a bust. At best, he was the next Drew Stubbs. The latter remains a realistic goal. Playing mostly in Double-A this year, Starling put up a .785 OPS while fanning 108 times in 375 at bats.

As he put it, "I’ve continued to work hard and this past year was a little better for me." Asked about his developmental strides, the 23-year-old outfielder told me that the more he’s played, the better he’s felt. Because of his corn-belt upbringing and his three-sport background, he "hadn’t played a lot of ball coming out of high school" and is "starting to figure things out a little more."

Rob Neyer agrees with Joe Posnanski that the Manager of the Year Award needs to be looked at differently, but doubts anyone will.

Joe’s right: We should be more sophisticated, more wholistic in the way we think about managers. But thinking’s actually difficult, and thinking in a wholistic way about five or six or seven different managers would actually be quite difficult. So, I think the Manager of the Year award is just going to be what it’s been. And I think Yost will wipe away his tears with that big dazzling ring.

Eric Hosmer's World Series dash home won "Best Moment" and Wade Davis won "Best Postseason" at the Esurance Awards.

Royals prospect Sam Selman makes Jonathan Mayo's list of top ten players available in the Rule 5 draft.

The former Vanderbilt standout and second-round pick struggled as a starter when he started moving up the ladder, so the Royals moved him to the bullpen. He can touch 97 mph and his slider shows flashes of being a plus pitch, but he struggles finding the strike zone.

Anthony Castrovince looks at young players who may be on the trading block, including Jackie Bradley Jr., who the Royals had reportedly showed interest.

The Tigers get Cameron Maybin from the Braves.

Old friends Jesse Chavez and Liam Hendriks were swapped for each other.

The Diamondbacks are discussing Johnny Cueto.

The Dodgers will name Dave Roberts their new manager.

The also signed a pair of Cuban teenagers.

A history of college football games at MLB stadiums.

Andy Van Slyke is on the "Boo Cano" bandwagon.

The NFL might not be coming to Los Angeles until 2017.

Jon Bois is not a fan of his fantasy football team.

Are the characters on some 400+ television shows in the mind of an autistic child?

SpaceX plans to fly astronauts to its space station by 2017.

Is nostalgia ruining the video game market?

Your song of the day is R.E.M. with "Don't Go Back to Rockville."