Royals Rumblings - News for April 19, 2016

Royals Rumblings - News for April 19, 2016

Ned Yost says the Royals will continue to defy statistical projections.

"They just don’t understand who we are,’’ manager Ned Yost said of projection systems. "They can’t quantify who we are. The things we’re so good at, they’re not stat-able.

’’Those traits include intangibles such as chemistry and teamwork, much of it developed as homegrown products helped turn the Royals from perennial also-rans into contenders, but also more measurable skills.

Blair Kerkhoff writes that the first two weeks of Royals baseball have been like last year, minus the beanballs.

Consider this stat: After 12 games the Royals haven’t been hit by a pitch. After 12 games last year, they had been plunked 14 times, including twice in each of the first two games and three times in another. Then the team had to deal with the hard slide into second base and shortstop Alcides Escobar by the Oakland’s Brett Lawrie....

"We definitely had some incidents there were we were tested as a team," Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. "I think everyone saw how we responded to it and where we went with it."

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City wants to remind you its a long season.

So yeah, the offense needs to get better if the Royals hope to go on a run. I don’t think it’s especially fair to expect the pitching to post a 2.89 ERA all season long. Their 3.73 FIP says that ERA number may not last forever. I also think that bullpen roles will continue to be somewhat fluid over the next couple weeks. I’m certainly a Joakim Soria believer, even though many aren’t, but I think Kelvin Herrera should be the last line before Wade Davis. I also think Danny Duffy’s role may increase as he continues to show good results out of the bullpen.

But even with all that, things will settle down. I expect the offense will pick things up soon. There’s an awful lot of slumping going on in this lineup. The hope is that the offense picks it up when the pitching regresses a little. It’s a long year. These things ebb and flow.

Ned Yost delighted the audience with tales at last night's Kansas City Sports Commission banquet last night.

He told story last wk of taking bus to hot dog place in Oak. He bought everyone lunch. Gordo refused to get off bus https://t.co/IS0fl90RBe

— DeAnn Smith (@DeAnnSmithkc) April 19, 2016

Check @jeff_rosen88 feed from last night for more gems.

Statcast breaks down Mike Moustakas' amazing catch in Oakland over the weekend.

Lee Judge writes about the pre-pitch concentration each player must have.

Here is video of Rusty Kuntz spinnin' yarns.

Don't forget - all Royals/Tigers games this week have an early start time of 6:15.

Who do the gamblers think is the most likely manager to get fired first?

Is it too soon for Cardinals fans to panic?

Did you purchase stock in the Braves?

Jon Lester makes another terrible throw to first base.

Kevin Costner wants to make a movie about the Cubs.

Here is an interesting piece on the last decade of shame that Rafael Palmeiro has endured since retiring.

Chiefs defensive back Hussain Abdullah writes about why he retired in The Players Tribune.

Is it time to let college athletes transfer without penalty when the coach leaves?

Theranos, the blood-testing startup, is under investigation by the SEC.

Dinosaurs were dying out well before the asteroid hit.

In the "hyper-competent female sidekick" trope, why isn't she the hero?

Your song of the day is Camera Obscura with "French Navy."