Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for July 25, 2016

We are all on hug watch.

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Jul 25, 2016, 8:00am EDT

Royals Rumblings - News for July 25, 2016

Yordano Ventura says he’s okay after taking a one-hopper to the ribs Saturday night.

Ventura said he expects to be fine moving forward.

"I lost my breath right away," Ventura said through interpreter Pedro Grifol. "It hurt at first, but I recuperated pretty good."

Ventura fielded the ball, which was hit with an exit velocity of 109 mph according to Statcast and completed the throw over to first to get the out.

Lee Judge writes about the two Yordano Venturas.

In the fifth inning Ventura gave up a double to Nomar Mazara and Delino DeShields was trying to score from first base; Ventura neglected to back up home plate — he never left the mound.

There is no play in baseball where the pitcher is encouraged to stand around and watch, but it happens all the time; usually when things aren’t going well.

Royals fans have seen two Yordano Ventura’s: one Ventura pitches with so much bling and enthusiasm other teams want to beat him just to shut him up, the other Ventura goes into a shell and appears to be going through the motions.

Saturday night we got to see both of them.

Johnny Cueto was miffed he was not invited to the White House with the Royals.

The Royals say they stuck to a tight criteria when choosing players to go attend the White House ceremony. Players who attended had to be on the team all year, on the postseason roster, and not on another team now.

Cueto was outside two of those criteria. But so was Cheslor Cuthbert, who did fill in a bit for Mike Moustakas at third base through out the season and popped up on the roster in September, but was not on the team all year, and was never on the playoff roster.

"I feel OK, I feel normal," Cueto said. "But I also feel it’s the organization’s responsibility to invite me. I did a job for them so I feel they should have had the courtesy to invite me."

The snub has drawn criticism around baseball.

Richard Justice thinks Ervin Santana is the "dream move" for Dayton Moore.

Only the Orioles have gotten fewer innings from their starters than the defending champions, and with Mike Minor and Kris Medlen's return uncertain, Moore's search for offense has to take a back seat to finding an innings-eating starting pitcher. When healthy, Santana is good for 32 starts and 200 innings. His contract has two years and $28 million remaining on it, which could be problematic.

Jason Vargas is progressing in his rehab from Tommy John surgery.

Some other injury updates:

Dayton Moore on Cain "don't see any reason that he won't either go out on a rehab the next 2-3 days, or perhaps, we activate him." #Royals
— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier610) July 24, 2016

Mike Minor threw live BP today in Arizona & felt good. #Royals may give him one more BP before sending him out on a rehab assignment.
— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier610) July 24, 2016

Dayton on Medlen "Very frustrating. His body just hasn't held up." Says he had no reason to believe he wouldn't win 10-12 games in 2016.
— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier610) July 24, 2016

Clint Scoles at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City scouts minor league pitcher Josh Staumont.

Blue Springs native Nick Tepesch shines in his Omaha debut.

Kansas City legend Buck O’Neil may have another shot at Cooperstown.

Chris Sale was excused from the team after cutting up White Sox jerseys.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza go into the Hall of Fame.

The Diamondbacks are making Shelby Miller available, less than a year after they offered a huge package to get him.

Joe Nathan is back in the big leagues with the Cubs.

The Astros call up top prospect Alex Bregman.

Young techies are replacing old GMs in baseball.

Sam Mellinger writes why we need sports more than ever when there is so much bad news.

Chris Froome wins his third Tour de France.

How Dodge City High School is embracing its changing demographics.