Royals Rumblings - News for December 23, 2015

Royals Rumblings - News for December 23, 2015

Jeffrey Flanagan reports that Dayton Moore will not report on negotiations for Alex Gordon.

"I will say that we're very much in the market still for another starting pitcher and a corner outfielder," he said again. "We feel we have quality depth in the outfield, but we have a desire for an experienced corner outfielder. And we would like another quality starting pitcher. "I have said in the past that our goal is for our starters to pitch more innings this year."

The White Sox are pursuing Alex Gordon.

Sources: #WhiteSox showing interest in Alex Gordon, among others. Gordon appeals for several reasons: Knows division, LHH, defense, makeup.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 22, 2015

The Royals have checked in on Mat Latos.

#Pirates, #Royals, #Orioles, #Brewers, #Rays have checked in on Latos, who is probably looking at 1-year deal to re-establish value.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 22, 2015

David Schoenfield at ESPN takes a look at how the AL Central race looks right now.

Alex Gordon remains a free agent, as does Alex Rios (no loss there), so their starting corner outfielders right now are Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando. That's not going to cut it.

That could be an acceptable platoon for one corner, but if there's room left in the budget -- the Opening Day payroll in 2015 was $112 million, same as their current projected payroll -- they should sign an outfielder or a pitcher, or both. While the Royals are still reportedly pursuing Gordon, they've also shown interest in starters Scott Kazmir, Yovani Gallardo and Wei-Yin Chen. Improving the rotation is a good idea: The Royals were 12th in the AL with a 4.34 ERA while throwing the fewest innings.

One reason for that dour prediction above, however, is the projected performance of Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. FanGraphs valued those three at 13.9 WAR in 2015; their projected number for 2015 is 9.1 WAR.

Former Royals farmhand Buddy Baumann is getting a nice payday.

Players are notoriously underpaid in the minors. Heyman says Baumann never made more than $2,500 per month in his career and now he's got $520,000 coming to him in 2016. Baumann's contract is not even a split contract -- he'll make $520,000 regardless of whether he pitches in MLB or Triple-A. Split contracts are common among players in their pre-arbitration years. The split deal pays them one salary in MLB and a lower salary in the minors. On top of that, Baumann also gets all the benefits of being on the 40-man roster. Great health care, licensing money, that sort of stuff. Spending even one day in the show is a big deal. It entitles the player to affordable health care for him and his family for life. After 41 days the player qualifies for the pension program.

Frank White is interested in the soon-to-be vacant Jackson County Executive seat.

Former Royals prospect Cody Reed has a bright future in Cincinnati.

In a fanpost, Haecceity examines what signing Alex Gordon would mean to the franchise.

Clubhouse Conversation talks to long-time Royals farmhand Luis de los Santos.

The Cardinals sign pitcher Mike Leake to a five-year contract.

Jeff Zimmerman at Hardball Times has a wealth of great disabled list information, showing the Royals have been one of the healthiest teams in baseball over the last three seasons.

Are the Mets operating their team like a Ponzi scheme?

The Marlins are asking even more for Jose Fernandez now.

New designs imagine a classier Wrigleyville.

The bat flip of all bat flips.

Five Chiefs make the Pro Bowl. #VoteOmar.

The best sports memes of 2015.

Rapper Killer Mike is defending rap as an art form to the Supreme Court.

Robots are learning from Youtube tutorials.

Forbes has named Johnny Depp "the most overpaid actor in Hollywood."

Nicholas Cage has promised to return a stolen Mongolian dinosaur skull to the federal government. But did he find the treasure?

Your song of the day is Radical Face with "Winter is Coming."