Royals Rumblings - News for January 13, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for January 13, 2017

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City looks at Royals non-roster invitee Chris Withrow.

So now Withrow will be in Surprise on a minor league contract. The question for the Royals to answer isn’t if they can fix his command. Those issues seems so ingrained that if you’re going to have him on your roster you’ll have to live with a high walk rate. Instead, the question will be if Withrow can miss bats with his slider which will allow his fastball to play up a notch. If the strikeout rate hovers around his 2016 level, he’s basically organizational filler, destined for life riding buses in the minors. If he can push it closer to double-digits, the Royals will have cashed in on another bullpen poker chip.

A low-risk, high-reward bullpen power arm. Just my kind of January free agent signing.

Anthony Castrovince makes his predictions for the rest of the off-season.

29. The Royals sign Brandon Moss. They've pared down their payroll a little bit and probably have a few bucks to spend on some cheap power. Moss could provide it and pair with the right-handed-hitting Cheslor Cuthbert in the DH spot while occasionally filling in at first base and in the corner outfield.

Beau Estes at Kings of Kauffman tries to find good fits for the Royals among the remaining free agents.

Chris Carter, DH/1B

Yes, Carter obviously has some flaws in his swing, whiffing an astronomical total 357 times the past two seasons. But even with his league-high 206 strikeouts in 2016, he posted a not-horrible .321 on-base percentage.

Carter’s got legit power. He hit 37 homers in 145 games for the Astros in 2014, 24 in 129 games again for Houston in 2015 and 41 for Milwaukee last year. That was tied for the best in the National League. And since he was non-tendered, he won’t cost a draft pick. There’s worse one-year gambles out there.

Get to know new Royals assistant hitting coach Brian Buchanan.

MLB.com: You seem to have had some instant success last season with prospect Hunter Dozier, who seemed to take a huge step offensively. What was the key to his turnaround?

Buchanan: He is easy to work with. He's a big, strong kid with a great work ethic, so that makes it easy. We just tried to focus on him staying on top of the ball and hitting more line drives, just stressed to keep the ball out of the air and more so about driving the ball. I only had him a month before he got promoted, so I can't take that much credit. It was him.

Former Royals shortstop Angel Berroa joins the Red Sox minor league coaching staff.

The Mariners have made a ton of trades, but are they any better?

Some teams are taking a “file and trial” approach to arbitration.

Seth Maness may be a trailblazers for a procedure that can be a quicker alternative to Tommy John surgery.

Is it possible relievers are not overpaid, but designated hitters are?

A cool nickname got Catfish Hunter in the Hall of Fame, so Grant Brisbee comes up with some cool names for deserving players.

Minor league umpires get raises and some new perks.

Everyone mocked the new Los Angeles Chargers logo.

Sporting Kansas City released their 2017 schedule.

Marijuana decriminalization will be on the ballot in Kansas City.

Norway becomes the first country to begin switching off FM radio stations for digital radio.

Every episode of Its Alwaya Sunny in Philadelphia, ranked.

Your song of the day is James Brown with I Refuse to Lose.