Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for May 22, 2015

Let's baseball again, already.

By Max Rieper@maxrieper May 22, 2015, 8:00am EDT

Royals Rumblings - News for May 22, 2015

Vahe Gregorian writes that the starting pitching is coming around at just the right time.

But in the end it only can go as far as the starting pitching can take it, so it was a fine thing that as of Thursday manager Ned Yost could accurately say, "It’s rounding (out) quite nicely." Not that he was worried, exactly, about it coming back to form.

"I knew that they’d get settled down. They’re just too good a group not to. We saw it last year," Yost said. "Like all players, these guys aren’t machines. They’re not robots. They’re going to have ups and downs.

"The offense did a great job of covering them when that happened, and there’s going to come a point in this season where the offense is going to slow down and the pitching’s going to cover them.

"And that’s what makes a good team."

Sam Mellinger writes that Chris Young has been terrific, but might fit better in the bullpen.

But there is a compelling case to move him back to the bullpen if the Royals think they can. Young is something like a lifeline, like the phone-a-friend from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He is there as a safety blanket, and able to get the Royals out of tough spots for which they have no answers, but he can only be used so many times.

He has a well-documented injury history, and even as he feels stronger than he has in years, last season’s 165 innings were his most since 2007.

Clark Fosler at Royals Authority also takes a look at the rotation.

With two off days sandwiched around a two game series, I would have skipped Duffy in the rotation this time through and opted to go with Young tomorrow (on 6 days rest), Volquez on Saturday (on 5 days rest) and Ventura on Sunday (on regular rest). That said, it is early in the season, and I believe the Royals may be worried about a skipped start digging Duffy into a deeper hole and also he may need to pitch more than he need to think.

With Jason Vargas seemingly on the verge of being ready to return (the Royals’ karma has changed so much that now when they put a guy on the 15 day disabled list, it really is just for 15 days – not a year and a half!), this could well by Duffy’s last start for a while. Another short outing with lots of runs and shotgun control and I could see Duffy in Omaha. I mean, really, we have Stormchaser season tickets, I could SEE him. I would prefer not to, however.

Darin Watson at Pine Tar Press also looks at Duffy and determines his problem is more mechanical then mental.

Anyway, I don’t believe Duffy’s problem is mental, although it could certainly have a mental component. More on that in a minute. The Royals have said several times that he is overthrowing, and looking at the various data we have available should confirm it....

His control is off a bit, so the ball is up and out over the plate more. He’s not getting inside on right-handed hitters enough. Hence, line drives and runners all over the place. We know Duffy is competitive to a fault (that’s fine, I want my ballplayers to be competitive), and it’s easy for the frustration level to rise, easy to grip the ball harder, easy to try to throw harder.

Minor league pitcher Brandon Finnegan was promoted to AAA Omaha. He has been relieving his last few outings, have the Royals given up on him as a starter?

Raul Mondesi homered again.

The Best Fans in Baseball are up in arms over this tweet by Buster Olney.

The Post-Dispatch thinks the Cardinals might have the best defensive outfield in baseball. That is adorable.

Royals players have the 60th highest average salary out of all professional team sports athletes in the world.

Lots of former Royals managers make this Sporting News list of worst managers of the last 30 years.

Buster Olney writes the trade market has been slow to materialize.

Eric Longerhagen at ESPN looks at who the Central Division teams might target in the draft.

System weaknesses Other than Dozier, there's not much power. Jorge Bonifacio, despite being 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, is a bat-to-ball hitter who struggled last year when the Royals tweaked his swing to try to coax more pop out of him.

Draft strategy The Royals have taken college players with five of their past six first-round selections. They also have gone pitching-heavy early in the past three drafts, with 10 of their 12 picks from the top three rounds being pitchers.

Old friend Will Smith was ejected for using a foreign substance.

Grant Brisbee writes the Twins won't keep winning this much.

If they do however, they won't have Ervin Santana for the post-season due to his PED suspension.

How is Nelson Cruz beating the aging curve? Probably legal means, right?

How has instant replay changed baserunning?

Youth baseball participation is down, will Major League Baseball suffer?

These Korean women do not know how to baseball.

Jon Bois' latest installment of "Pretty Good" looks at the flying lawn chair adventure of Larry Walters.

All-NBA teams were announced, and once again Brian Scalabrine was snubbed.

Austin, Texas is blowing away other big cities in population growth.

Here's the montage that ended Letterman's show on Wednesday that includes 562 different moments over the years.

Why it pays to be a jerk.