Royals Rumblings - News for August 31, 2015

Royals Rumblings - News for August 31, 2015

ALEX GORDON RETURNS THIS WEEK!

"He feels really good," Yost said. "He’s running at about 90 percent, which is good. he’s taking walks, fouling off pitches, getting hits. He’s doing a lot of really good things. I just want to make sure that he’s ready when he gets here."

Kansas City will be cautious with Gordon when he returns. With Gordon reclaiming left field, Ben Zobrist will become the primary second baseman. But Gordon will still only play four or five games a week, Yost said.

"This is kind of a one-shot deal," Yost said. "If he comes back and hurts it, he’s done. So we want to make sure he’s in great shape, healthy and ready to go, when he gets back."

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes the Royals are looking for backup catcher for the post-season.

The Royals are looking to add a backup catcher for the playoffs just in case something happens to Salvadore [sic] Perez. They are hoping for a lefthanded-hitting backstop to offset Perez (they said no on A.J. Pierzynski) but aren’t willing to take on too much money. While some scouts in their organization feel the Red Sox’ Ryan Hanigan, though he hits righthanded, would be the perfect choice, his $3.7 million salary next year and an option for 2017 make that prohibitive.

Lee Judge's son Paul discusses why Mike Moustakas has been on fire lately.

Moose started off red-hot this year, looking like one of the best players in baseball for the first month, but around the All-Star break he started to show some of his old troubles at the plate: chasing pitches out of the zone, and looking to pull everything thrown to him.

During his recent surge at the plate, Moose has talked about the importance of letting his hands doing the work, which emphasizes staying back and hitting the ball where it’s pitched, rather than opening up and trying to pull everything to the right side. Moose’s offensive performance during Saturday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays showed how good he can be when he does this.

Sam Mellinger has a nice piece about Royals broadcaster Rex Hudler.

Mom gave him so much. Not just the discipline, and not just a standard to meet. She gave him the best advice of his life, too. "The world is negative," he remembers her saying. "The only way you’ll survive is to be positive. You have to learn how to get a positive out of a negative. If you don’t, you’ll have a hard time surviving."

Those words, along with Cade’s spirit, are the fuel for what the baseball world and Royals fans in particular have come to know as Hud. That energy was always in him, but he made a conscious effort to bring it out. He is a natural salesman, and he sells baseball. At some point, a conscious effort becomes habit and a habit becomes who you are. People sometimes wonder if Hudler is acting. If he’s playing a character. There was some of that in the beginning, sure, but if you are constantly playing the same character it stops being a character and becomes your personality. This is how Rex Hudler came to be Hud.

"You’re right on," Hud says. "One hundred percent."

Joshua Sadlock at Baseball Essential writes that the Royals are impossible to hate.

The Royals are a homegrown bunch of players who clearly thrive off each other’s presence. There is an air of excitement and passion that surrounds this team, and it is fun to watch them play ball together. Try as I might, it is impossible to hate players like Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, and the ever-lovable Salvador Perez. I even delight in the hot-headedness of Yordano Ventura and Kelvin Herrera. Those two have their teammates’ backs, rest of the league be damned (it should be noted that unlike many other baseball fans, I do not have a problem with the occasional brawl. I believe they have their purpose and place in the game). As I drove home from work yesterday listening to the final Orioles’ defeat in the four-game series, I found myself enjoying the incredibly vanilla, Midwestern radio broadcast on the Royals’ network.

David HIll at Kings of Kauffman thinks Kyle Zimmer could make a push for next year's rotation.

However, after starting off the season in the bullpen, Kyle Zimmer has transitioned to the starting rotation with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Despite his 0-4 record since becoming a starter once again, Zimmer has pitched fairly well, posting a 3.32 ERA while walking five batters and recording 17 strikeouts in his 19 innings of work. Perhaps more significantly, Zimmer has been able to get to between 70 and 85 pitches in each start without any of his injury woes making an appearance.

Zimmer could even get a bit of an audition for the Royals at the major league level this season. His solid performance in the minors has opened the door for Zimmer to potentially receive a callup in September once the rosters expand, and the possibility that he could reprise the bullpen role that Brandon Finnegan held down last year.

Jeremy Guthrie may have a future as a ball boy.

Some former Royals took time out over the weekend to participate in a youth outreach program for MLB. Video here.

Christina Kahrl of ESPN thinks the surging Rangers could be a force in October.

Do players outperform their projections in contract years?

A look back at the failed tenure of fired Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik.

A.J. Cassavell of Sports on Earth wants some rule changes to accommodate September roster expansions.

A fan died after falling from the upper deck in Atlanta on Saturday.

Vin Scully will broadcast Dodgers baseball next year in his 67th, and final season.

Japan defeats Pennsylvania for the Little League World Championship.

Old school grump has a problem with Cardinals reliever Trevor Rosenthal taking time off for paternity leave.

Your fantasy football draft guide.

Just how reliable are psychology studies anyway?

Tesla gets better than perfect score with Consumer Reports.

Mount McKinley is no more, renamed "Mount Denali."

RIP famed neurologist Oliver Sacks, the subject of the movie "Awakenings."

Your song of the day is The Clash with "Train in Vain."