Royals Rumblings - News for July 28, 2016

After a closed-doors team meeting before Wednesday’s game, Ned Yost told Jeffrey Flanagan the following:

But Yost did concede that his Royals, losers in 14 of their last 19, probably are getting frustrated, and perhaps are concerned about Monday's non-waiver Trade Deadline and whether or not the front office will buy or sell.

"At times you kind of get caught up in situations because the media makes such a big deal about the Trade Deadline, and are you buying or are you selling?" Yost said. "More than three quarters of the things that are said on TV, they're just made up. They're not even close ... when guys' names get mentioned, that not only adds some anxiety for the player, [but] for his teammates, too, because everybody is really, really happy here.

"Nobody wants to leave here. So teammates feel like they have to pick up the slack and then they have to make sure [a trade] doesn't happen. And then you just find yourself in a mud hole spinning your tires. The harder you try to get out of it the deeper you go."

Rustin Dodd checks in with the players about the prospective of a sell-off at the deadline.

“I have no idea,” Royals backup catcher Drew Butera said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we did (sell). I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t. I know the front office still believes in us and still believes we can get out of this and still come back and win.”

In the moments after Tuesday’s loss, first baseman Eric Hosmer said he would not worry about the possibility of selling. Dyson was adamant that his teammates believe they can still make a push during the second half. But others have grudgingly accepted that teammates and friends may be headed elsewhere before the deadline.

“If they end up selling some guys, we can’t complain,” Alex Gordon said earlier this home stand. “Because we’ve put ourselves in this situation.”

BP Kansas City’s Darin Watson tells how he’s come around on the idea of a Wade Davis trade:

Anyway, you may be asking: “But Darin, what would the Royals do without Davis?” The good news is his potential replacement is already on the roster, has already pitched in big postseason games, and is practically as good. Also, he’s cheaper and under team control for two more seasons. Of course, I mean Kelvin Herrera. Beyond him, the bullpen admittedly gets a little more questionable. I could see the Royals bringing back Greg Holland for not a lot of money (relatively speaking), and there are plenty of good relievers eligible for free agency this winter. It might not be the four-headed monster that the 2015 bullpen was before Holland got hurt, but the Royals could still put together a pretty solid one.

The Royals are said to be asking a lot in return for Davis, as they should. If they can get two really promising prospects who are major-league ready, they should definitely be willing to deal. But the beauty of this situation is that they don’t have to do anything they don’t want to do. Keep Davis, and he can be a big part of what could be a very good team (with better injury luck and some better performances from key players) in 2017. Deal him, and they can patch up a hole or two to make this a very good team in 2017.

Baseball Prospectus’s Dustin Palmateer wonders why more runners aren’t stealing home when it seems to have gotten easier to do so.

At The Hardball Times, Frank Jackson looks at the three pitchers to debut as teens and last into their 40s as big-leaguers.

At Fangraphs Eno Sarris explores what it’s like for the player getting traded.

Questlove had a response to Bill O’Reilly’s playing down of slave labor playing a part in the construction of the White House.

Next time you see a cockroach, milk it.

UGK fans rejoice, Bun B is here with his latest dispatch from the DNC.

Netflix announced a spate of renewals.

Donald Trump’s relationship to Russia explored.

The insane and extremely NSFW court transcript that made the rounds a few weeks ago was acted out at Comic-Con by Justin Roiland in character as Rick & Morty. Again, it’s very NSFW audio, so throw on the headphones.

The song of the day is Peter Gabriel’s cover of “Heroes” from the Stranger Things Original Soundtrack: