Royals Rumblings - News for July 29, 2016

Royals Rumblings - News for July 29, 2016

Jon Heyman at Today’s Knuckleball gives the latest updates on the Royals trade talks.

The Royals are going to wait until the last minute if they decide to sell. If they do, potential free agents Edinson Volquez, Kendrys Morales and Luke Hochevar are candidates to go … Long term, folks believe they’ll let Alcides Escobar go and be replaced by top prospect Raul Mondesi …

The Wade Davis suitors are trying to drive the price down.

Cleveland may be interested.

Jay Jaffe at Sports Illustrated thinks being sellers will be good for the Royals long-term.

In a seller’s market, dealing those players now could give the Royals more flexibility to plan for next year and beyond, bringing back prospects who could help to extend their window directly, fortify a farm system that’s been hit hard by graduations and trades in recent years, or be flipped this winter for more ready pieces. Dealing Cain and/or Duffy (or even Hosmer)—all of whom are under full control next year—would bring back a veritable windfall given the market’s lack of impact players.

Jeff Sullivan at Fangraphs writes about how trading for Davis could be a gamble.

And he thinks the Royals should consider trading Danny Duffy.

Dave Cameron at Fangraphs calculates how much negative value Ian Kennedy has right now.

During 2017-2020, when Kennedy’s contract calls for him to be paid $62.5 million, he’s projected to be worth $26.6 million, a $36 million deficit relative to his contract. That’s a pretty big liability.

Of course, that’s not the whole story of Kennedy’s value, since that ignores the rest of 2016; at just $3 million and as an arm who provides depth, at least, he does have a little bit of value in a market where teams are starved for guys who can throw the ball. Even with his current struggles, Kennedy has some value above and beyond his minimal remaining 2016 salary. Let’s be generous and say he’s got $6 million in positive value remaining for 2016, mostly due to the current market for available arms; that puts his overall value at about $30 million in dead money over the remainder of his contract.

Jeffrey Flanagan says the Royals are not close on a deal with Eric Hosmer.

Ned Yost called a team meeting this week.

"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."

Former Royals outfielder Brian McRae gets a coaching job with Mizzou baseball.

Cheslor Cuthbert welcomed his new son to the world.

Raul Mondesi is the only Royals prospect on MLB.com’s Top 100 midseason prospect list.

MLB.com has its new Top 30 Royals prospect list.

The Giants get infielder Eduardo Nunez from the Twins.

Dee Gordon rejoins the Marlins after his PED suspension.

How getting traded brings up all sorts of real life issues for players.

Rob Manfred thinks baseball can be a way for kids to go to college.

Joe Morgan's house has a carpeted bathtub?

The politicians who came up with the awful Braves stadium plan got voted out.

Sports Illustrated finally re-designs their awful site.

The Chiefs are raising parking prices...kind of.

Scientists have no idea what this glowing purple orb in the ocean is.

Chipotle will start flipping burgers.

Sesame Street lets go long-time actors who played "Bob", "Luis", and "Gordon."

MTV launches "MTV Classic" showing videos from the 90s and 2000s.

Your song of the day is the Buggles with "Video Killed the Radio Star."