Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for April 26, 2016

Late games makes for a sleepy Rumblings.

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Apr 26, 2016, 8:00am EDT

Royals Rumblings - News for April 26, 2016

Darin Watson at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City wonders if the Royals are at the cutting-edge by carrying Terrance Gore.

Part of me wonders if the Royals, who have made it to two straight World Series in part by zigging where other teams zag, have found another way to confound baseball. I also wonder if this will be a trend, or something that only applies to the Royals and a few other teams.

As you probably know, earlier this week, the team chose to keep Terrance Gore on the roster over Reymond Fuentes when Jarrod Dyson returned to action. He didn’t get a lot of time to show it, but Fuentes appears to be at least a capable backup outfielder. Meanwhile, Gore is a career .245/347/.278 hitter. In the minor leagues.

But this isn’t about what Gore can’t do. Certainly, letting Fuentes stay sharp with regular playing time at Omaha is a factor. It’s a reasonable decision, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him back in the majors this season. But from a pure numbers perspective, one might wonder if keeping Gore is the correct move. Can a team afford to carry a position player who is no threat with a bat?

Lee Judge explains that by reducing velocity, Yordano Ventura is a better pitcher.

If you can throw a baseball 100 mph, but you’re not real sure where it’s going, you get worse defense behind you. Outfielders have to play straight up because you might be aiming for the outside corner and hit the inside corner and that means the outfielders might have to go left or right in pursuit of a batted ball.

But if you back off a few miles an hour and now you can hit that outside corner when you want to, outfielders can shade toward the opposite field; that’s where a 97 mph fastball is likely to be hit.

Joon Kim at Fake Teams writes that Eric Hosmer is a good buy in fantasy leagues due to his youth.

Gamers, don't just sleep on your old first baseman's sluggish start. It could be an ominous sign of the bigger things to come, but you still have chance to cut your loss. The young exciting duo of Rizzo and Goldschmidt are probably out of reach, so targeting the other 26-year-old Hosmer could be a smarter move. Hosmer isn't having a particularly good year yet, so his owner might be intrigued if you throw him brand names like Encarnacion, Votto, Gonzalez, or Fielder. Some of these guys can end up having good year, but the problem is that we don't know who actually can. Moreover, the risk is not worthwhile since these guys' upsides are limited as they get older (But it's possible we haven't seen the best days of Hosmer yet). By the time you sort all out, it could be already too late, so act now.

Now appearing:

LET IT LOOSE KC!
Thanks @pepsi for these awesome billboards that are going up around KC!!! pic.twitter.com/oUMsmXOIts
— Mike Moustakas (@Mooose_8) April 25, 2016