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Royals Rumblings - News for December 15, 2015

You were weird and wonderful, Johnny Cueto.

By Max Rieper
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Royals Rumblings - News for December 15, 2015

Craig Brown at Royals Authority doesn't understand what the Royals are saving their money for.

Second, if you think the Royals have a chance of extending all four of The Core, you’re smoking something stronger than Trevor Vance’s turf. Hosmer and Moustakas are Scott Boras clients. They are most assuredly hitting the open market. Besides, are you sure you want to give a bunch of cash to Moustakas? I mean, I’ve done a 180 on him (or maybe more like a 90. Maybe a 45. I’m still trying to decide) but I’m going to see more than half a season where he hit the ball the other way before I’m buying. The idea of an extension for him has to keep Royals executives up at night, because a scenario exists where it would make more sense to just toss a pile of cash into a paper shredder....

Saving money today for the possibility of cashing in on a long shot in 2017 is not good business sense. Not when it weakens your team for the next two seasons.

David Lesky at Pine Tar Press looks at some of the pitchers the Royals are looking at.

The Royals have finally begun to be connected to some free agent pitchers, but I can’t say I’m in love with the options. They all have their warts, which makes sense since the top pitchers are off the market, but one pitcher I’d avoid is Yovani Gallardo. His strikeout rate has dropped in each of the last three seasons after striking out a batter per inning in 2012. Last year, he struck out less than six batters per nine innings, which is not good at all. Pitching in Kansas City, that wouldn’t be as big of a deal as it would be in some places, but missing bats is better than not missing bats. Add in that Gallardo has averaged about 5.2 innings per start over the last three seasons, and there’s more than a couple red flags. We’re three full years removed from his last year as a top three-type starter. Odds are it isn’t going to get better for him. One thing he does do is take the ball every fifth day and mostly gets the team into the sixth inning. There’s value in that for sure, but I don’t think there’s enough value in that to give him the deal he wants and give up a draft pick to sign him in the process.

Sounds like the Cardinals might be out on Alex Gordon.

Johnny Cueto signs a six-year, $130 million deal with the Giants. The Giants may be out on Gordon as well.

Eno Sarris looks at how Cueto continues to defy his peripherals.

You might be looking at Cueto’s page right now and wondering what’s going on. His 45% ground-ball rate is right in the middle zone. But that ignores the fact that he has a pop-up inducing fastball and an elite changeup for ground balls (55% since 2010). His sinker is close to the threshold, too (54%). If you have a few pitches that average 55% and a few that average 30%, you might end up with an overall rate that looks average. But you might still have a few pitches that act like FIP-beaters on their own. Look for more from Jeff Zimmermann on this topic in the future.

The starting pitcher market is heating up.

Jon Heyman reports the market for Todd Frazier is heating up with the Royals among the many teams interested.

The Braves beat writers is not high on the rumors of the Royals interest of Nick Markakis.

Royals historian Curt Nelson has enjoyed being the guardian of the World Series trophy.

"You don’t want a whole bunch of people handling it," Nelson said. "It’s delicate. It’s not so fragile (that) if you touch it will break, but it’s a delicate, important object."

As he considers the responsibility of preserving it properly, he thinks of statues that have been touched and touched and touched and over time ultimately lose their patina. Not that he won’t allow anyone to touch it.

Much as he’d get a kick out of seeing, say, general manager Dayton Moore or manager Ned Yost put on gloves to hold it, he smiles and says, "They may handle the trophy sans gloves."

The Royals signed some pitching depth for the minors.

Jen Nevius at Drinking the Royals Blue Aid gives your Royals Winter Leagues update.

Kyle Davies is headed to Japan.

New Royals farmhand Cody Decker is not impressed with the new Star Trek trailer.

Pete Rose will not be reinstated.

The Diamondbacks decided to to pursue and sign Zack Greinke all in one afternoon.

Some Cuban baseball players don't defect because they are loyal to Fidel Castro.

MLS now has free agency for the first time, and Sporting KC signs the first-ever free agent, midfielder Justin Mapp, formerly of the Montreal Impact.

Missouri lawmakers may make it so healthy collegiate athletes who refuse to play will be stripped of their scholarships.

Netflix wants to improve its streaming quality.

America's clowns are dying.

Watch how America's yearbooks have evolved over a century.

Your song of the day is The Ramones with "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement."

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