Royals Rumblings - News for October 25, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for October 25, 2017

Lee Judge looks at the intangibles of Eric Hosmer.

One day I came into the clubhouse and found Hosmer had changed lockers, he was now down in the right-hand corner, smack dab in the middle of the Latin players. When I asked why, Hosmer said the new clubhouse ping-pong table was right behind his old locker and he was getting peppered with errant ping pong balls.

But Hosmer’s choice of a new locker was significant.

As I’ve said before, teams like to present themselves as one, big happy family, but in reality there are divisions within those teams and one of those dividing lines is language. Latin players tend to hang out with other Latin players.

Having a guy who speaks enough Spanish to relate to his Latin teammates and is comfortable moving back and forth between his English-speaking teammates and Latin teammates is helpful and worth something.

Hunter Dozier may be in the plans for 2018.

One plan going forward in the event of losing Hosmer is having Cheslor Cuthbert play third base next season (assuming pending free agent Mike Moustakas also signs elsewhere) with Dozier potentially at first base....

Another scenario would have Dozier at third base and Cuthbert at first base. Cuthbert impressed the coaching staff last Spring Training with his athleticism at first base in limited appearances there.

"If both of those guys earn a spot on the team, it's a matter of how we line up best defensively," Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo told MLB.com. "If Cuthbert is the better defender at third, and to get Dozier on the team, Dozier could play first."

The LCS featured the four biggest markets, but Sam Mellinger writes that this doesn’t mean small markets are in trouble.

Baseball has far more competitive balance and parity than it is generally given credit for. Jayson Stark writes about this every year during Super Bowl week.

There is no question that more money is an advantage. You should not listen to anyone who says otherwise.

But revenue sharing is more substantial now than ever, and the current CBA allows for what is effectively a hard salary cap with compounding luxury tax penalties. There’s also a more fundamental baseball element to this, that players generally age much faster than anyone expects in a specific player, so when a team gets the first six or seven seasons of a star’s career, that team often gets the best season of that star’s career — and certainly the cheapest.

Aaron Schwenker at Royals Farm Report profiles the enigmatic Bubba Starling.

My ceiling for Bubba would be a sub .250-.270 hitter with multiple Gold Glove awards: basically Kevin Kiermaier. The biggest knock I have on Bubba is that he is not stealing bases. This is surprising given his speed and range in center, but those who have watched him say he is not a quick twitch athlete, and he could eventually still learn to be a threat on the basepaths. Look out for Bubba patrolling Kauffman sometime in 2018.

Darin Watson at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City makes the case on who Royals fans should root for in the World Series.

The Royals re-sign Onelki Garcia and Seth Maness becomes a free agent.

Size has been no obstacle for Jose Altuve.

Why you should consider the Dodgers as underdogs.

The Dodgers are in the World Series, but first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is taking a European vacation.

Everyone hates the Youtube ad behind home plate in the World Series.

ESPN forgot the White Sox were in the 2005 World Series. Again.

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner promises to be active in free agency.

Terry Francona and Craig Counsell were named Sporting News Managers of the Year.

Reducing payroll is bad news for the Marlins’ already troubled starting rotation.

The Tigers decline the option on Anibal Sanchez.

How does an ace performance affect reliever workload?

Travis Sawchick at Fangraphs makes the case for 32 teams in MLB.

Baseball may not be king of American sports anymore, but it may still be the most important.

Former FBI Director James Comey confirms his secret Twitter account.

Stop it with these bad “most popular in each state” maps on the internet.

RIP Robert Guillaume.

Your song of the day is BØRNS with Electric Love.