Royals Rumblings - News for January 8, 2015

Royals Rumblings - News for January 8, 2015

Clark Fosler at Royals Authority tries to look forward to how the Alex Gordon signing shapes the roster the next few seasons.

Extensions prior to free agency? I think a lot of that is a pipe dream. Of Hosmer, Moustakas, Cain, et.al. I think maybe….maybe, you can get one to a deal that takes them beyond the 2017 campaign. I think Cain is the most likely to get a deal done, but probably the one with the most risk as well. If you were/are worried about an age 34 Alex Gordon, you should be scared to death of the thought of a 33-34 year old Lorenzo Cain who is a step and one-half slower than the one you know now and can’t stay on the field for more than 120 games. Offensively, the organization has to hope that Mondesi and Starling are bonafide major league regulars. Playing the extension game and knocking wood for good health, a Gordon-Starling-Cain outfield is not bad to build around.

On the mound, we still are pinning are hopes on a quality one-two Ventura-Zimmer punch with the back end of the bullpen likely being Soria and Herrera. Wade Davis? THAT will be an interesting discussion in the winter of 2017 won’t it? Scared of Gordon, frightened of an aging Cain? What are your thoughts on a 32 year old closer? The upside of all this is that the Royals, even if Glass dictates a payroll of say $90 million, would have something along the lines of $40 million to play with in the open market. God knows what $40 million buys by 2018, but it buys something.

John Viril at Kings of Kauffman is skeptical the Royals give up a draft pick to sign a free agent pitcher.

Dayton Moore has said many times that his goal was to make the KC Royals "consistently competitive". "The Process" that became a joke among fans and pundits before 2014 referred to the franchise’s emphasis on player development. This organizational philosophy comes straight from the Atlanta Braves, where Moore spent 11 seasons in player development while the team won a record 14 straight division titles. A guy like Moore, who thinks that consistent success rests on developing prospects, isn’t going to cut his talent pipeline when viable rotation targets that will not require the KC Royals to give up their first round pick, like Cliff Lee, Mat Latos, and Tim Lincecum, are still available.

David Lesky at Pine Tar Press thinks a healthy Omar Infante could lead to a big improvement this year at second base.

So that surgery gives me some hope for optimism for a couple reasons. The first is that Infante hasn’t exactly been healthy at any point during his time with the Royals, and now he might finally be. If he’s going to be given the opportunity to regain his starting spot (and he is), it’ll be interesting to see what he can do finally healthy. He did hit .318/.345/.450 in his final season in Detroit when healthy. He was also a .296/.332/.413 hitter over the six seasons before becoming a member of the Royals. I’m not saying I’m expecting him to approach either of those numbers, but maybe a healthy Infante can do something like .270/.300/.380. If he can do that, that’s a huge jump.

In a video, Sports Illustrated's Ben Reiter wonders if Alex Gordon left money on the table to return to Kansas City.

The Royals sign pitcher 35-year old Chien Ming Wang to a minor league contract.

Chien Ming Wang's deal with Kansas City: Base is $1M, with an additional $1.5M in incentives for GS/IP, up to $250K for relief appearances.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 7, 2016

Former Royals catcher Brayan Pena has written a fantastic piece about his defection from Cuba.

Former Royals outfielder Mark Quinn has been named an assistant hitting coach by the Orioles.

Sports Illustrated totally predicted this year's Hall of Fame class with their Mike Piazza/Ken Griffey cover back in 1994.

Dalton Mack at Sports on Earth tries to predict the next few Hall of Fame classes.

Curtis Pride, who played Major League Baseball while deaf, has been named an MLB Ambassador for Inclusion. (h/t Gross(est))

Roger Clemens and Roy Halladay engage in a Twitter beef accusing each other of PED use.

Jay Mariotti is appalled at the support for Barry Bonds and seems to blame you dang millennials.

How chauvinist sites like Barstool Sports use social media as a weapon.

Jon Bois takes a look back at when Ken Griffey Jr. ran for President.

Sporting Kansas City makes a big splash trading for Houston Dynamo forward Brad Davis.

Why did China's stock market close after 29 minutes?

One man's 40-year fight against salt in food may finally bring about some change.

The "Taco Cleanse" is a thing and it only costs $11!

Your song of the day is Genesis with "Invisible Touch."