Royals Rumblings - News for January 30, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for January 30, 2016

Evan Davis at FanRag Sports looks at who is the likeliest Royals player to stay beyond this year.

If Moustakas stays healthy and feels 100 percent about his knee, then he may be ready to post a classic Walk-Year season. Fangraphs projects him to post 3.3 fWAR in 2017. If he beats that projection–which the peripherals indicate he very well might–he could be the Royals’ best player. He’s three years younger than Cain, which means that it might behoove Moore to throw a bunch of cash at him in order to make him the new face of the team.

Honestly, that isn’t likely to happen. Moustakas is on the verge of a real breakout, and it happens to be his walk year. Don’t forget that Scott Boras is his agent, which reduces the likelihood of Moustakas signing an extension to half a millimeter above zero. Moore might also be completely committed to a rebuild at this point, and will trade Moustakas at the deadline. This is probably the most realistic scenario.

But maybe–just maybe–Moore should make him an offer he can’t refuse. The Royals’ future may depend on it.

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City doesn’t see Raul Mondesi making this club.

One thing I keep noticing is that Raul Mondesi seems to be every national publication’s pick to be the second baseman for the Royals, but, man, I just don’t see it. I think the future is insanely bright for Mondesi, but I think if the Royals are trying to win, and they are, they can’t give him five starts a week or whatever it might be. He struck out 48 times in 149 plate appearances in 2016. He wasn’t close to ready, and that’s okay. He’s just 21 years old. It’s perfectly acceptable for him to not be ready. I want to see him spend two or three months at a minimum in Triple-A to work on his game. The talent is clearly there. He hit .304/.328/.536 in 14 games in Omaha in 2016. Do that for three months and then we’ll talk. I think Whit Merrifield is pretty clearly the second baseman, at least in my eyes. Of course, Mondesi is also exactly the type of talent who could go out and hit .450 in spring training with seven home runs and change the Royals minds, but I think he starts the year in Omaha and that’s a good decision.

Keith Law gives Matt Strahm honorable mention in his Top 100 prospect list.

He may touch 96 mph as a starter but will probably be more 90-93, with a plus curveball and an average changeup; he’s very tough on lefties but the changeup is good enough to make him a real three-pitch starter. He missed the top 100 because he just hasn’t pitched that much and because his ceiling may just not be high enough, but I do think the Royals should try to start him to maximize his value before returning him to the bullpen.

The Royals have “renewed interest” in free agent starting pitcher Jason Hammel, according to Boston Globe writer Nick Cafardo.

Lee Judge passes on snippets from talking to Royals players at FanFest.

Karns wants to throw the changeup more often and throw it to right-handed hitters at times. Changeups often have movement to the pitcher’s arm side, so right-handed hitters don’t expect to see right-handed pitchers throw one. Most pitchers aren’t keen on throwing mid-80s pitches on the inner half of the plate.

But Karns thinks if it’s a good enough changeup, thrown at the right time, it can still be effective.

Rustin Dodd talks a bit more to Karns.

Eric Hosmer says the Royals will find a way to move on from this off-season.

Ned Yost and Royals players talk about how hard the Ventura loss has been.

Financial details to Greg Holland’s deal with Colorado were made public.

Former Royals outfielder Johnny Damon was inducted into the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame.

Travis Wood has an offer from a team to be a starting pitcher.

More details are released about just how long the Cardinals hacked the Astros.

Adam Jones thinks the Orioles haven’t done enough.

Chris Davis thinks Jose Bautista is an easy guy to dislike.

Who are the most unpredictable players of 2017?

Chiefs Assistant General Manager Chris Ballard will run the Colts.

Highlights from the 30th annual Royal Rumble.

People are bad at taking over for autonomous cars.

Japan’s Pachinko market makes Vegas looks small-time.

Studio executives talk about the state of comedies in television.

Your song of the day is Banquet with Bloc Party.