Royals Rumblings - News for April 21, 2016

Slow day for Royals-y news, kiddos.

In the first of seemingly boundless articles about Joakim Soria, Rustin Dodd reports:

The problem, Soria said, stemmed from a mechanical issue with his front side. As he’s finished his delivery during the season’s opening weeks, his left side has drifted open too quickly, leaving his release point off.

"My front arm is pulling side to side, instead of up and down," Soria said. "It’s not a big deal. But it’s obviously going to help me."

As Soria works through the issue, Yost said he will deploy right-handed reliever Kelvin Herrera more in the eighth inning, a role that Soria occupied for the season’s first two-plus weeks. The bullpen roles, Yost said, will not be rigid. Instead, he wants to use Herrera in the most high-leverage situations, whether that falls in the seventh or eighth inning.

Darin Watson delves into the history of two-time Royals, and it isn't pretty.

The players who, like Soria, starred for the Royals in their first go-round are few. Appier is certainly one; after 10 ½ fine seasons, he was dealt at the trade deadline in 1999. But by the time he returned to Kansas City in 2003, he was about done. His second stint in KC consisted of six appearances and 23 innings.

. . .

Anyway, the only other players on the list besides Appier to have a really nice first term as a Royal are Macfarlane and Ibanez. Appier and Macfarlane are really the only two players to have extended success in their first spell as Royals, and then come back to Kansas City later on (Ibanez had three nice years his first time as a Royal, but Appier and Macfarlane both did it for several years). Macfarlane was a Royal for eight years before a one-year deal with Boston; then he came back to KC for two seasons before he was traded shortly after the start of the 1998 season. His first year back was good, but his second was subpar.

Craig Brown looks at Joakim Soria.

Construction starts on the Kansas City MLB Urban Baseball Academy:

The first of the $14 million project’s two phases — consisting of three baseball fields and one softball field, a walking trail, relocated basketball courts, relocated and renovated tennis courts and a relocated playground near the community center — is scheduled to open this fall.

Construction of the first phase is funded by $2,052,000 from the city’s capital improvements sales tax, $2 million from the state, $2 million from the Major League Baseball Urban Youth foundation and $1 million from the MLB Players Association. According to City Manager Troy Schulte, the state money is expected to be spent before July on field preparation and underground utility work.

Cody Decker, we hardly knew ye.

Still a Royal in our hearts, Zack Greinke's slider gets looked at by Eno Sarris at FanGraphs.

Curt Schilling got himself fired by ESPN.

Matt Swartz dives into the waters of the valuation of opt-outs for The Hardball Times.

Putin ain't all that.

Pennsylvania's "loophole" primary could cost Donald Trump the Republican nomination.

Carving out a niche with great promotional material was a key to Deadpool's success. The Nice Guys, Shane Black's buddy feature which already looked like a winning companion piece to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, looks even better after seeing these Couples Therapy webisodes.

Information about the upcoming second season of Mr. Robot is starting to come out, including a teaser trailer.

Joss Whedon apparently did not like what he did with Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Your song for the day is the article-free title track from the new Explosions in the Sky album The Wilderness.