Royals Rumblings - News for July 19, 2016

Royals Rumblings - News for July 19, 2016

Kendrys Morales is day-to-day after fouling a pitch off his foot last night.

Morales was removed from the game Monday after fouling a ball off his right foot in the fifth inning. The X-rays on his foot were negative, the team said. He was diagnosed with a bruise and is classified as day-to-day.

Brian Flynn will make his first Major League start in two years tonight.

"Ever since we've kinda had a spot shuffling around, I've been hopeful to get a shot at it," Flynn said. "I feel like I can help the team as a starter."

Why did Yost choose Flynn?

"We know what Chris Young can do and we know what Dillon Gee can do," Yost said. "We want to see what Brian can do."

Raul Mondesi tops the list of Royals top ten prospects according to Baseball America.

Mondesi seemed on the verge of finally taking his outstanding tools and turning in the kind of on-field dominance scouts had long expected. And then his season was put into deep freeze as he was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Mondesi has returned to action and has played at three levels as he tries to get his timing back. He’s already matched last season’s home run total (six), but he continues to have swing-and-miss issues. Long-term he’s still the Royals’ best prospect and likely will be added to the big league roster this September.

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City writes about how the Royals are missing Lorenzo Cain.

As spectacular as his defense can be in center, Cain is supremely important to the Royals on offense. Look at the bottom line: Runs scored. Scoring is up across the league. In the American League, teams are averaging 4.6 R/G, up from last year’s 4.4 R/G. Meanwhile, scoring for the Royals is down. Last year, they averaged 4.5 R/G, the sixth-best rate in the league. Not a lot of power, but the singles train was full steam ahead. This summer? Royals bats are barely getting out of the station, averaging just 4.0 R/G. That places them 14th out of 15 teams, ahead of only Tampa in the run scoring column.

When you remove Lorenzo Cain from the lineup, the situation only becomes more dire. In the 15 games he’s missed since pulling his hamstring on June 26, the Royals have plated just 3.5 R/G.

The Royals lead all of baseball in local television ratings this year, up from their ratings last year.

Eric Hosmer talks about the importance of this homestand.

I was featured in a Central Division roundtable on the South Side Sox podcast.

The Twins fire General Manager Terry Ryan.

It's extremely early in the process, but one name tossed around some baseball circles for the Twins GM opening is Royals AGM J.J. Picollo.

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) July 18, 2016

Popular trade target Rich Hill is having blister problems.

Jeff Sullivan at Fangraphs argues the Braves should trade Julio Teheran.

Cardinals executive Chris Correa is sentenced to four years in prison for hacking the Astros database.

There is some momentum to shorten the season to 154 games.

Roger Clemens and other former MLBers will participate in the NBC tournament in Wichita.

Catching Kelce, a reality dating show on VH1 about Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, will air October 5.

Here are some dumb ways they could split the Big 12 into two divisions.

Turtles originally developed shells for digging, not protection.

Netflix will stream the new CBS Star Trek series around the world.

You can't trust anyone in HBO's new series The Night Of.

Your song of the day is Primus with "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver."