Royals Rumblings - News for December 2, 2015

Royals Rumblings - News for December 2, 2015

Sam Mellinger writes in his mailbag that the Royals shouldn't re-negotiate a deal on Salvador Perez.

Or, in a fair and just world, the Royals could take some of the $7.5 million they paid Omar Infante last year, or some of the $17.75 million they owe him over the next two years, and give it to Perez. They could take some of the $7 million they gave Noel Arguelles and give it to Perez. As of press time, Fox, Infante, and Arguelles had not agreed to redo their deals.

Let's go one step more — Royals fans should not want Perez to get more money. Giving him a contract extension would mean committing big money after Perez's 30th birthday, a milestone that scares many scouts who see a big body already racked with abuse unable to withstand the rigors of being a catcher that far into the future. And if Perez has to move to first base, his value plummets. Giving Perez more money means having less money for Mike Moustakas, or Lorenzo Cain, or Eric Hosmer, or even Alex Gordon.

Giving Perez more money does not make the Royals better.

He also writes that the Royals took in over $15 million in post-season revenues and should have a payroll near $130 million next season.

The market for Ben Zobrist is developing quickly.

Sources: Zobrist market likely to become more defined in next few days. Willingness to guarantee fourth year likely will be deciding factor.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 29, 2015

Source: Ben Zobrist planning on visiting interested teams in next week. Teams unknown, but at least one east coast and one west coast.

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) December 1, 2015

Jeffrey Flanagan says the Royals have had "encouraging talks" with pitcher Chris Young.

Jeff Todd at MLB Trade Rumors considers the Royals interest for Wei Yin Chen, and what a Lorenzo Cain extension would look like.

If we assume that KC expects Cain to settle in as a 4-to-5 win type of player, and can eventually land something like Gordon probably will (say, four or five years at $20MM+ annually) as a free agent, then you have the makings of a framework. That’s where negotiations come in, of course. If Cain’s reasonable expectation is to max out at, say, $130MM over the next seven years, then the club can try to whittle that back — in terms of guaranteed dollars and years — to a number that makes sense for the organization while providing sufficient security to Cain.

My guess is the team would need quite a significant discount, in terms of guaranteed money, to find a deal palatable.

Dave Cameron at Fangraphs thinks the Tigers should pursue Alex Gordon.

Of the big four free agent outfielders, Gordon is expected to land the cheapest deal, given that he’s heading into his age-32 season and a lot of his value is tied to his defensive performance. The crowd estimated that he’d land a five-year deal for $18 million per year, though the crowd is usually low, so maybe something like 5/$100M might be more realistic; that’s the guess Jon Heyman put out there.

But while Gordon’s age is going to limit most suitors to offers in that four- or five-year range, there’s no real reason the Tigers need to stick to that plan. If there’s one thing Ilitch’s spending patterns have all had in common, it’s that he’s been willing to take on future dead money in exchange to get players who can help in the short-term, and the team hasn’t been shy about signing players to big contracts that extend towards a player’s 40th birthday. The end of these deals won’t be pretty, but given that they’re already headed down this path, there’s no real reason to draw the line on a guy like Gordon and say that you won’t pay him past age 36.

Ned Yost explains why he carried Raul Mondesi on the World Series roster over Terrance Gore.

"Flexibility," Yost said was the reason Mondesi was added. "It took a long time for me to think through this with the coaches. Gore is a tremendous basestealer, but he’s kind of a specialist at that. "Mondesi can do a lot of things. He can play the field really, really well—shortstop, second base. He’s a switch-hitter. He can hit a fastball. He can bunt and he can run. When I told Raul he was going to be on the roster, he just looked at me and said, ‘I’m ready.’

Kendrys Morales was given an award.

Major League Baseball announced today that Kendrys Morales of the Kansas City Royals has been voted the winner of the 2015 Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. Morales received 50 of the 88 first-place votes cast to garner the honor for the first time in his nine-year career. Kendrys batted .295 (156-for-529) with 39 doubles, 21 home runs, 104 RBI and 78 runs scored in 141 games as DH for the Royals, earning his first Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award.

Billy Butler (2012) and Hal McRae (1980 and 1982) are Royals who are past winners.

Baseball is one of the few sports where the runners-up buy their own rings.

Royals officials said their decision was not difficult after the team’s rousing run to the World Series. Not long after the 2014 season, Kevin Uhlich, the Royals’ senior vice president for business operations, approached two ring companies, Jostens and Herff Jones, and gave them the same set of directives for a prospective A.L. pennant ring....

Glass wanted to spare no expense. But Uhlich and Moore persuaded him to tone down the ring and keep it to a reasonable size, something fitting of a pennant, not a World Series. They had both companies make sample rings, and they chose Jostens’s design, made of 10-karat white gold, with the "KC" logo. The total carat weight is 1.9 carats. "We think it’s a beautiful ring," Uhlich said. "But we did consciously make sure that we left a little distance, in the event we were lucky enough to win a World Series. How would we take it to another level?"

David Price is the first big domino to fall in free agency,signing a seven-year $217 million deal with Boston.

Fangraphs has their top 100 prospect list according to KATOH with Samir Duanez, Miguel Almonte, and Cheslor Cuthbert representing the Royals.

Baseball America has their top 100 high school prospects for 2016.

Could a salary cap be good for players?

What are the Braves doing and how does it relate to their new stadium?

Can the Tigers contend in 2016?

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon meets with Rams officials on a new stadium in St. Louis.

Behold, the sadness of Browns fans.

Could the world's tallest building soon be in Iraq?

What brought Air Asia Flight 8501 down?

Russia wants to build a lunar base by the 2030s.

Sylvester Stallone is in talks for developing a TV show based on his Rambo movies.

Your song of the day is David McCallum with "The Edge."