Weekend Rumblings - News for January 7, 2016

Weekend Rumblings - News for January 7, 2016

Jonathan Bernhardt at FanRag questions whether the Royals should go for it one more time.

Are three or four picks at the end of the first round a better investment than what the Royals could get on the trade market for these guys? Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on how 2017 plays out. What’s certain is that there’s simply too many guys hitting free agency at the end of next year for the next good Royals team to look much like this one — which is why guys like Peter O’Brien and Jorge Soler are being added now, and the Royals are kicking the tires on players like Matt Adams.

That said, there’s still one good last hurrah in this roster, as it’s put together — both because the rules make it easy to blow this team up at the end of next season, and because it’s the right thing to do by the fans in a division that could turn on a few key injuries to other teams. Add in a dash of “who knows what could happen” — a few career years by key Kansas City hitters; the emergence of Raul Mondesi, Jr., into a young superstar at second base — and come next winter, we might be regretting this roster had to end so soon.

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City considers Cheslor Cuthbert at designated hitter next season.

I still believe the Royals should go out and find a right-handed bat to help anchor their lineup. Maybe Peter O’Brien is that guy. I doubt it, but it’s worth a look, I guess. But if not, I think people might be underselling Cheslor Cuthbert. And it’s not because I think he’s a great hitter, because he’s not, but we’ve discussed a possible late season injury before. He was held out of the second game of that series in Miami and I wonder if there was something going on at that point. Prior to that, he was hitting .292/.330/.441 with 10 home runs in 379 plate appearances. After that, he hit .218/.290/.328. I could be wrong and maybe Cuthbert just can’t really hit big league pitching, but I think we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t acknowledge there’s at least a chance that Cuthbert can hit enough to man the DH spot while trading off with Mike Moustakas at third (at least early in the year) and giving the Royals a little flexibility while not forcing a rotating DH.

John Viril at Kings of Kauffman doesn’t buy into the Matt Adams trade rumors.

I have admit, a Matt Adams/Peter 0’Brien platoon would add power to the Royals lineup. Adams has hit a solid .284/.331/.480 with 46 home runs in 1,117 career at bats against right handed pitchers. He’s a much less impressive .212/.243/.352 against southpaws in his career. Adams has proved he can hit big league pitching, while O’Brien has only posted a measly .674 OPS in 74 major league at bats.

However, I just don’t see Moore using a DH platoon with a questionable bullpen.

Atlanta could be in on Brian Dozier.

The Mariners acquired Yovani Gallardo for some reason.

Brandon Phillips blocked a trade to Atlanta.

The Blue Jays aren’t that anxious to bring back Jose Bautista.

Craig Edwards at Fangraphs writes that aside from Clayton Kershaw, no active pitchers have a shot at the Hall of Fame.

The 17 most interesting people to watch this baseball season.

Remembering Earl Weaver Baseball, one of the greatest baseball video games ever.

Four Chiefs were named to the All-Pro team.

Would NBA fans pay to see the last five minutes of a game on TV?

Mysterious radio signals in space were traced to a galaxy light-years away.

Why Amazon’s Alexa is the future of computing.

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly will team up for a Sherlock Holmes parody.

Your song of the day is Lucky Thompson with One Last Goodbye.