Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for September 23, 2016

Better catcher: Salvador Perez or Mark-Paul Gosselaar?

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Sep 23, 2016, 8:00am EDT

Royals Rumblings - News for September 23, 2016

Terrence Gore talks about getting caught stealing for the first time in the regular season.

"I'm not frickin' God," Gore said, smiling. "I've been caught in the Minors three or four times this year. It happens.

"I just got a terrible jump. If you watch the video, it was pretty bad. I wouldn't have gone, but in that situation I still felt like I had a chance."

August Fagerstrom at Fangraphs breaks down the play to see how Roberto Perez nabbed Gore.

The throw from Perez couldn’t have been better. Lindor was in the right position to place a quick tag. Gore called his jump “terrible” after the game. All of that, and it was still close.

The Royals were active this summer in international free agents, despite being restricted by the rules in what they could spend.

“I think we did good with what we got,” said Francisco, who runs the club’s international operations. “We gave $50,000 here, $100,000, $75,000, $150,000 — we just kind of spread out the money.”

This year, the Royals’ international bonus pool consisted of $2,081,200, which ranked in the bottom third of baseball. They opened the period in July by signing outfielder Daytan Biegel of Curacao and outfielder Randor Vargas of the Dominican Republic, according to Baseball America. But most of the club’s signings will fall into the under-the-radar category.

Darin Watson at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City thinks the 2018 Royals may be better than you think.

Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez should still be here, which is encouraging on and off the field. Gordon may not be a vocal clubhouse presence, but his work ethic is a great example for young players. And Perez can be more of a vocal presence. Both of them will be a link to the 2014-2015 World Series teams. On the mound, Yordano Ventura will still be here. And a Danny Duffy extension seems likely. A rotation with Duffy, Strahm, and Ventura has the potential to be very good.

Throw in a new television contract and many contracts coming off the books, and the Royals should also have some more payroll flexibility to fill whatever holes they may have.

Jeff Todd at MLB Trade Rumors looks at how the Royals might deal with Edinson Volquez.

That’s not exactly a sterling platform for free agency, but there are some silver linings. First and foremost, Volquez has been a rock, making over 30 starts in each of the last five seasons. And his average fastball velocity is holding firm at over 93 mph. ERA estimators have never really been in love with him, even when he was posting strong results in each of the last two seasons, but they largely view his current season as a continuation — with variances in strand rate, BABIP, and home run susceptibility largely explaining the different bottom-line marks.

The Royals officially release Chien-Ming Wang.

Who are baseball’s best and worst managers at handling bullpens?

Is Gary Sanchez having the best start to a career ever?

The Braves are setting up for a fascinating off-season.

Why aren’t fans showing up to Orioles games?

A few hundred people showed up to a Twins game.

The Dodgers troll Madison Bumgarner with “Don’t Look at Me!” t-shirts.

What is the future for Wichita’s Lawrence-Dumont Stadium?

FOX’s “The Pitch” should appeal to baseball fans.

How the classic baseball tell-all book Ball Four turned into an awful television show.

A man wins a baseball card contest six decades after it was announced.

The Chiefs admit they have screwed up the parking situation.