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Royals Rumblings - News for November 3, 2015

Who's ready for a parade?

By Max Rieper
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Royals Rumblings - News for November 3, 2015

The Royals reportedly scouted the Mets and looked to challenge Lucas Duda's arm.

When the Royals received the scouting report on the Mets before the World Series, it was hard to ignore two lines that were heavily emphasized. "Make [Lucas] Duda throw the ball. Make [Travis] d’Arnaud throw the ball,’’ was presented to every Royals player. So when Eric Hosmer was on third base in the ninth inning and the Royals trailing by a run in Game 5 Sunday night at Citi Field, he was ready to test Duda’s shaky arm from first base.

Sam Mellinger writes that even among championship clubs, this group is special.

Salvador Perez’s relentlessness, Mike Moustakas’ resiliency, Alex Gordon’s determination, Cain’s brilliance, Escobar’s easiness, Davis’ steadiness, Ned Yost’s stubbornness and the patience of Glass and Moore — they are all irreplaceable parts of one of the great long-term turnarounds in professional sports history.

"They’d beat us," said George Brett, the face of the Royals’ last great moment. "I really believe they’re a better team. They have more depth throughout the lineup, they have better speed, defensively they’re better. We could beat them in some positions, but they’re a better ballclub. It’s great to be associated with them. It’s great to have them as friends."

Get Lorenzo and Salvy a spa day.

In his notes, Jon Heyman writes that the Royals are looking to extend Dayton Moore and Ned Yost and re-sign pitcher Chris Young.

The Royals are hoping Alex Gordon, who's soon to be a free agent, will take a hometown discount (he's from Lincoln, Neb.) on perhaps a three- or four-year deal to give himself a chance to become a lifetime Royal. Though there will be plenty of outside interest.

J.J. Cooper at Baseball America writes that continuity in the front office paid off for the Royals.

At the time, there were rumblings around the game that maybe the Royals’ pampered their minor leaguers too much. There were stories of generous travel allowances and perks. But even as the big league club slogged through dismal seasons, the minor league Royals were winning titles...

But Kansas City’s front office truly believed that building a winning culture in the minors would pay off in the big leagues one day. That little bit of extra time a strong farm system bought has proven to be the difference between Moore hitting the unemployment line and establishing himself as one of best GMs in the game.

Let that sink in for a second. At this point, there is little argument that Moore belongs in the top echelon of GMs. Running a small revenue team with few natural advantages, Moore and his staff have built a team from the ground floor. They have drafted well, their trades have paid off handsomely and they have found bargains on the free-agent market. Kansas City has a philosophy—trust in athleticism, defense, contact hitting and the power of a good fastball—that paid off in the playoffs.

Alex Speier of the Boston Globe praises the Royals for winning without delving deeply into free agency.

In late August, a pair of analysts from the Royals front office – John Williams, the director of baseball analytics for player personnel, and Daniel Mack, the team’s director of baseball analytics for research science – discussed how Kansas City had gone about the long-term process of constructing a winner, at a time when the Red Sox were mired in a position of relative despondency. They were asked what they would do in the shoes of new Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

"I would try to amass a core of young controllable players. I think that’s the only way you’re going to succeed over long stretches of time," said Williams. "And I would know, in his position, I could afford to keep those players as long as I wanted to."

Alex Skillin at Hardball Times argues the Royals are a sabermetric team.

Ultimately, Kansas City is still not viewed as a sabermetric team due to a dated reputation that no longer accurately reflects the organization’s capabilities. Instead, the Royals should be regarded as one of the smartest organizations in baseball — a franchise, much like the Pirates or Astros, that has developed a clear plan and carried it out to great success. No, the Royals haven’t excelled solely because they possess some hyper-advanced analytics department filled with mad scientists churning out data and formulas that are well ahead of everyone else. But what they’ve done probably would draw far more accolades from the sabermetrics crowd if a team like the Rays or Cubs had succeeded with similar strategies.

Dave Cameron at Fangraphs looks at the lessons to be learned and not to be learned from the Royals.

The Royals blueprint isn’t an easily copied one — and like every other blueprint other teams have followed, it isn’t guaranteed to work — but I would expect that the Royals success will lead to a bit more emphasis on depth, defense, and bullpens. The Royals are basically the exact opposite of a stars-and-scrubs team — though they do have some legitimately great players as long as defensive value is taken into account — and I wouldn’t be surprised if other teams started to see their success as a reason to push more towards a higher quantity of good players rather than attempting to ride on the backs of a few great ones.

Jeff Sullivan at Fangraphs writes the Royals were historically clutch.

Will Leitch at Sports on Earth writes that the Royals post-season was perfect.

St. Louis columnist Bernie Miklasz congratulates the champs as only a Cardinals fan can.

I’m really not trying to troll anyone here. I love baseball, especially when it’s played well. I love to watch teams that steadily take great at bats and never seem to lose their single-minded purpose when a tense game turns uncomfortable and unnerving. We’ve had the pleasure of watching many Cardinals teams that fit those same attributes, and if anything that gives me a greater appreciation for witnessing the Royals’ rise to a championship after wallowing for nearly 30 years in a state of ineptitude and irrelevance.

The Cardinals have treated St. Louis to winning baseball so often through the years and decades, it becomes easy to take for granted.

Ned Yost and Andy McCullough are THE BEST.

Headed to the Hall of Fame!

Yahoo! Sports looks at the top ten stories from the Royals run this fall.

Of course Eric Hosmer's run came 17 hours and 38 minutes into the World Series.

The Royals are among the early favorites to win the 2016 championship.

The Royals have a custom-made WWE championship belt coming their way.

The celebration showed up on the weather radar (h/t 1040X)

The Star looks at what its like to be a Mets fan this week.

Royals infielder Ramon Torres and former Royals pitcher Sean Manaea were named Arizona Fall League All-Stars.

Brooks Pounder has joined Team USA with Royals farmhands Parker Morin, Brett Eibner, and Casey Coleman in the Premier 12 tournament in Taiwan.

Classy move by the San Francisco Giants, they sent pizzas to the Royals front office as congratulations.

KU fans tore down their goalpost in celebration of the Royals championship. Hey, its not like they were using them.

In a surprise twist, Dusty Baker may end up being the manager of the Washington Nationals.

Here is an early look at the 139 players eligible to file for free agency, including Royals like Johnny Cueto, Ben Zobrist, Chris Young. Ryan Madson, and Franklin Morales.

The 49ers are benching Colin Kaepernick in favor of former Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

Longtime Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer is retiring.

Twitter, as a company, continues to slump.

A new Star Trek series is in development for CBS, for their new online platform.

A study finds toys and advertising gets kids to eat more fast food.

Your song of the day is Queen with "We are the Champions" (h/t cmkeller):

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