Royals Rumblings - News for January 24, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for January 24, 2017

The crew at BP Kansas City pays tribute to Yordano Ventura, with Craig Brown saying:

Yordano was one of those guys who you loved because he was on your team. Did he anger and infuriate his opponents? Damn straight he did. Hell, he could infuriate the fanbase with his inconsistencies. But underlying it all was a passion. A passion for the game, a passion for his team, and clearly, a passion for life. Combine that with a fearlessness. My god. That was one of the reasons I loved him.

For me, the enduring image of Yordano won’t be anything from his time on the mound or even in a Royals uniform. Instead, it will be of the day after Game Seven in 2014, when he showed up, unannounced, at a youth softball complex in the Northland. Mingling with parents and players a day after a heartbreaking loss, that said so much to me. Here he was, a young man, with a youthful heart, just looking for one more game after the best season in Kansas City in more than a generation. Nobody would have blamed Yordano if he had just packed his bags and bolted town the day after the loss. Hell, that’s just kind of expected. Instead, there he was, just hanging around, posing for pictures while wearing a Royals cap for crying out loud, and just was… Yordano. I’ll miss him.

Seconded.

The Star has live updates from Ventura’s funeral service, which will be attended by several Royals players today as well as Dayton Moore and Ned Yost.

Rustin Dodd gives the latest breakdown of the events of Sunday:

In the weeks before Christmas, Ventura dyed his hair a bright shade of red and posed for a photo in Piantini, an upper-class neighborhood in Santa Domingo, and then posted to his Instagram account. A few days later, he talked to Moore, promising the Royals’ general manager that he would win 18 games and record 10 complete games in 2017. In the days after the conversation, Moore relayed its contents to Royals manager Ned Yost.

“I just talked to Yordano,” Yost remembered Moore saying. “He was really fired up.”

Ventura will be buried on Tuesday. Moore, Yost and a collection of current and former Royals are set to attend. Among those expected for the services: Alcides Escobar, Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Jarrod Dyson and Greg Holland.

Pete Grathoff relates a story about Yordano Ventura spending time with a nine-year-old girl with terminal brain cancer:

“When Amelia received her cancer diagnosis and we learned what a serious form of cancer it was, besides the fear of losing my daughter, there was also the fear of having her childhood stolen from her while she was fighting this battle,” Meyer said.

“On that day, she got to be a kid again. Cancer wasn’t a thought, it wasn’t an issue. It was just a happy day.”

The Dodgers basically traded for Brian Dozier, even though they didn’t trade for Brian Dozier.

BP has new and improved data on pitchers’ command and control.

Big developments in the world of otters.

Get in line for your Twin Peaks action figures.

Mark Hamill weighs in on the new Star Wars title.

The nominee to chair the FCC is a net neutrality foe.

Your Echo has a new, Star Trekkie feature.

The song of the day is “Jizzney” by A Giant Dog.