Weekend Rumblings - News for May 9, 2015

Weekend Rumblings - News for May 9, 2015

You may have seen this yesterday on our site, but Bless You Boys has a great look at how the Royals and Tigers got where they are via different methods.

The biggest discrepancy in the methods used by the two clubs to put together their major league rosters is found in how they develop or trade their own homegrown talent. Kansas City has nine players on their major league roster who were drafted by the club, including five who were top four overall selections. The Tigers have just four draftees.

Dave Hill takes investigates how the Royals could patch up their leaky rotation.

Likewise, the Kansas City Royals had been a solid collection of pitchers that could amass innings. Shields, Jason Vargas and Jeremy Guthrie were all capable of pitching 200 or more innings per season, helping to limit the usage of the Royals excellent bullpen. This season, the Royals are only 25th in innings pitched by their rotation. This was certainly not the plan.

With that being the case, there is talk about the Royals already being a team that could look to land a starting pitcher prior to the trade deadline. If the Royals were to dabble in such a market, they certainly have the prospects to land one of the bigger names available. In fact, Buster Olney has even speculated that the Royals could target Scott Kazmir or Mike Leake.

Take a gander at Andy McCullough's mailbag, where he answers a question from us (among other things).

From @royalsreview: Any word on Sean Manaea or Raul Mondesi? Hard to make a mid-season trade if all your good prospects are hurt.

1. Manaea: Assistant general manager Scott Sharp indicated Manaea might be able to leave extended spring training by the end of May. Manaea strained an abdominal muscle in March and missed most of the spring. He still needs to build up his pitch count before he can join Class AA Northwest Arkansas, which was his intended destination before he got injured.

2. Mondesi: He strained his back on April 9, which was Opening Day in the Texas League. He has been rehabilitating in Arizona ever since. Assistant general manager J.J. Picollo classified the injury as "day to day," even after nearly a month away from the diamond. "He’s getting closer," Picollo said.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/k-zone/article20504223.html#storylink=cpy

Also, there's this

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THE ROYALS ARE 18-11</p>&mdash; Matt LaMar (@LaMar_Matt) <a href="https://twitter.com/LaMar_Matt/status/596872643858403329">May 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Other items of interest

Is Marvel nearing the limits of what they can do with their film cinematic universe?

Technology in education is a tricky problem, and we have to learn from our mistakes.

Power poses, and power stances, are fun but are largely unscientific. Don't tell Chris Getz.

Nintendo and Universal now have a deal to bring Nintendo franchises and themed rides to Universal's theme parks. If there is not an actual Mario Kart ride this deal is a terrible tease.

It looks like Kansas City is finally moving forward with bringing a new, 800 room hotel to the convention center area.  Plans are for it to be finished by 2018.

Also, please congratulate RoyallyDisplaced as he gets married this fine evening.  I shall be there to prevent any of you from crashing said wedding.

Weekend classic

This Saturday's classic is Yo Yo Ma's performance of the first movement of the famous Edward Elgar piano concerto.

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