Royals Rumblings - News for June 29, 2016

Royals Rumblings - News for June 29, 2016

Sam Mellinger gives his thoughts on what has been an up-and-down season for the Royals.

I’m not at all surprised that the Royals are 40-35 — that’s a pace for 86.4 wins — and in second place, though I’m mildly surprised at how they’ve gotten here. I didn’t think an older team* with so much playoff experience would have so many streaks, good and bad, but that’s how this group has always been. Much of the streakiness can be explained through starting pitching.

* The Royals have the oldest pitching staff in the American League, and seventh oldest positions players, by Baseball-Reference’s measurements, and for a good year or two now one of the best ways to know someone doesn’t know much about the Royals is if they call it a young team....

They’ve always seemed like an 84- to 89-win team to me, give or take. I’d still guess that’s where they’ll end up, and in the AL Central, it could be enough for a playoff spot.

MLB execs sound off on Yordano Ventura.

The secret about makeup is that for players who surpass a certain physical threshold, it almost never matters. Ventura might already be a former Royal, perhaps even a former major leaguer, if not for his magical right arm. "It’s unusual to have somebody who is this bad mentally and can last," says one scouting director. "It takes a guy like him, who can throw 100, to be able to be like this. It’s very rare to have somebody with that sort of talent, but who is so aggressive in his personality and so emotionally out of control that it becomes a detriment. This guy might be in danger of crossing the line, but he’s not there yet."

Ned Yost says Kendrys Morales could see time in the outfield in National League parks.

"I'm hitting balls and he's zipping toward everything -- balls in the gap, balls in the corner, over his head," Kuntz said. "I couldn't believe it. He's not Lorenzo Cain, but he's better than decent."

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City marvels at the third base tree.

Last season, I compared Cuthbert a bit to Joe Randa. I just didn’t see the power coming, so I thought that one made a fair amount of sense, but I think Cuthbert has more pop than Randa. It’s easy to forget he’s just 23 since he’s been in the organization for such a long time. I think he’s the real deal.

So now here’s the question: How do the Royals maximize on this for the long run? They’ve got Moustakas under contract in 2017 for a very reasonable $8.7 million, but then he’s a free agent. Cuthbert is under team control through at least 2021 and maybe longer depending on how the Royals handle the situation next year.

I’m not saying this is the be-all, end-all solution, but I wonder if the Royals wouldn’t be best served to shop Moustakas this offseason and roll into 2017 with Cuthbert playing every day. Obviously they have the rest of this season to evaluate Cuthbert, so they don’t need to make that decision today, but it’s something to certainly think about.

Lee Judge notes that Kendrys Morales has turned things around, rewarding the Royals' patience.

Cutting players and firing managers is easy, replacing them is quite a bit harder. The Royals did not cut Omar Infante loose until Whit Merrifield played his way onto the field. The Royals found a better option at second base and only then was Infante let go. The Royals believed in Kendrys Morales, did not have a better option at DH and now their patience has been rewarded. Fans (and the media) can learn something from that.

How do the Royals get pumped up before a game?

Is Matt Carpenter having one of the greatest leadoff seasons ever?

Ken Rosenthal pleads for the A's not to have a firesale.

The Mets are dealing with elbow issues in their rotation.

Grant Brisbee gives his National League All-Star ballot.

Lenny Dykstra opens up about his insane life.

Suspended Blue Jays first baseman Chris Colabello wants to clear his name.

Grumpy old New York columnist complains about everything about modern baseball.

Ranking the 117 top NBA free agents.

Politics is driving neighbors apart.

A map of the impossibly fast journeys in season six of Game of Thrones.

A new documentary dives into the dark world of competitive tickling.

Your song of the day is Creedence Clearwater Revival with "Bad Moon Rising."