Royals Rumblings - News for November 7, 2017

MLB Columnist Jim Duquette thinks that the Royals will re-sign Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas.

Hosmer celebrated his 28th birthday on Oct. 24, meaning he enters free agency as one of the youngest talents available. Hosmer enjoyed a career year at the plate, posting a 135 wRC+ (35 percent better than the league average) and tallying 25 homers for the second consecutive season. Any team looking for a vocal leader with postseason experience, as well as a middle-of-the-order bat, should have interest in Hosmer. Given his age relative to the rest of the class, he'll likely get a longer deal, possibly seven years at $20 million per season.

Interested teams: Red Sox, Royals, Mariners, Mets

Duquette's prediction: Royals

Nicholas Sullivan at Kings of Kauffman thinks that’s insane.

Duquette thinks Hosmer could earn as much as $140 million (seven years and an average of $20 million per year). He also believes Moustakas will earn in the range of $100 over five or six years. Do you honestly think David Glass is willing to spend nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on two players? I sure don’t.

I also don’t think the Kansas City Royals will re-sign Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain. And I also don’t think they will keep Moustakas and Cain. Basically, there is no longer a scenario where the franchise signs more than one of its main free agents.

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City laments the Ian Kennedy player option and three more years of the redbeard.

Looking at the big picture, for Kennedy to be worth his five year contract, he will need to post around a total of 8.0 WARP. With two seasons in the books, he’s earned only 1.8 WARP, which presents a tall order of providing 6.2 WARP over the final three years. As you can see from the table above, he’s never had a three year stretch where he was that productive. Entering his age 33 season, it’s unrealistic to think he could start now.

Meet Slugerrrrrr, a...Hall of Famer?

After 22 seasons prowling the grounds at Kauffman Stadium, Royals mascot Sluggerrr received national recognition Monday when the Mascot Hall of Fame announced his induction as part of the Class of 2017. Benny the Bull (Chicago Bulls), Tommy Hawk (Chicago Blackhawks) and Nittany Lion (Penn State) were the other inductees.

It turns out, like we all thought, that the assault on Senator Rand Paul was due to a landscaping foofaraw.

Target’s Black Friday Ad is out. DEALS ARE EVERYWHERE! Even where you may not expect it.

Here are some Star Wars Episode VIII secrets, if you want some.

Talks of a Disney/21st Century Fox merger have begun, and the implications are immense.

If you live in Kansas City, Missouri, get out today and vote. The fate of Kansas City International airport hangs in the balance, as do the far-reaching implications of the vote.

Horizon Zero Dawn’s expansion, The Frozen Wild, is out today, and it’s good. I am unbelievably excited to play it.

Everyone knows that homers have gone crazy the last few years, but can we expect it to continue next year?

Sleeping enough is good. Crazy, right?

Tuesday Classic

After decades of ballooning orchestra sizes and growing nationalism, the desire to assert your own unique culture into music, the tumultuous climate of the first World War crystallized the defining feature of 20th Century: atonality.

But in the second half of the 1900s, a few American composers forged a new path ahead, one that would be deemed as minimalism. Minimalist music could be tonally and adventurous, featuring wonky key centers, chromaticism, and other facets of the cutting edge.

Minimalism, though, was new. Its movements through its chord structures was, on surface glance, glacial. But that was its thing: minimalism could only be understood through its methodical pace.

Phillip Glass was one of the progenitors of minimalism. He is one of the few great American composers that is still alive.