Royals Rumblings - News for January 13, 2016

Royals Rumblings - News for January 13, 2016

Craig Brown looks at why Omar Infante has struggled so much in a Royals uniform.

My first inclination was to look at how Infante attacked the fastball, thinking he was avoiding the hard stuff because he was having difficulty catching up to it. However, the numbers from the tables and charts above don’t bare out that hypothesis.

Then was it pitch recognition? Hard to say since he’s never really had this issue at any time in his career. Or was it something psychological, where Infante was pressing at the plate, trying to force the issue and it just so happened the breaking pitch low and away was always his weakness. It was just exposed with an aggressive approach. Whatever the reason, Infante needs to adjust his methods at the plate and reign in his swings on the breaking stuff. In optimal conditions, he’s a below average offensive performer. There’s no reason he should throw more of the balance to the pitcher.

John Viril at Kings of Kauffman looks at the possibility of trading for Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey and whether knuckleballers have an effect on the rest of the pitching staff.

There are two problems imagining such a deal coming to fruition: 1) Dayton Moore could be unwilling to further deplete his prospect pipeline, and 2) the KC Royals would have to deal with the Blue Jays, who might not want to help out someone they consider a rival for the 2016 pennant.

To make it worthwhile for the Kansas City Royals to pursue such a deal, two things would have to be true: 1) the Blue Jays and Royals will have to not care about dealing with a potential rival, and 2) the Blue Jays will have to be unaware, or not buy into, the "Dickey Effect" while the KC Royals analytics staff believes it to be true.

The Marlins sign pitcher Wei-Yin Chen to a five-year, $80 million contract with an opt-out.

The Rockies sign outfielder Gerardo Parra to a three-year, $27 million contract.

The Dodgers sign Cuban pitcher Yasiel Sierra to a $30 million contract.

Grant Brisbee ranks all the starting rotations in baseball.

Yoenis Cespedes wants $150 million and no one will give it to him.

How does the Cardinals hacking scandal affect baseball?

David Glass ranks tenth in "most likable owner" in baseball.

RIP Hall of Fame outfielder Monte Irvin, one of the first African-American stars in Major League Baseball.

More than a thousand minor leaguers have signed onto a lawsuit against Major League Baseball over alleged minimum wage violations, according to the plaintiff's attorney.

Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke talks Strat-O-Matic baseball.

#1 Kansas falls to West Virginia in college basketball.

The Rams and the Chargers are moving to Los Angeles.

What policymakers get wrong about the encryption debate.

People are sending the Oregon militia members supplies, but they're the very NSFW variety.

Adam Sandler's movies flop in the theater, but thrive online.

Your song of the day is Mott the Hoople with "All the Young Dudes."