Royals Rumblings - News for February 1, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for February 1, 2017

David Lesky looks at where Danny Duffy could rank among Royals pitchers when his contract is up.

So if Duffy is striking out 8.3 batters per nine innings and averages, say, 180 innings per season, that gives him 166 strikeouts per season. That’s 830 strikeouts over the five seasons of his deal. That would give him 1,370 strikeouts, which would be the second most in Royals history and just 88 behind Kevin Appier. Surely Duffy would want to sign another deal with the Royals to pass Ape for such a prestigious title. Even if Duffy falters or misses time with injury and just averages 111 strikeouts per season, he’ll be fourth on the Royals all-time list. That’s pretty high up there.

If he averages 30 starts per year, he’ll move up to fifth on the all-time list and be just 19 behind Appier.

If he averages those 180 innings per year, he’d move up to seventh on the all-time list and be just 137 behind Saberhagen.

Jeffrey Flanagan looks at the Statcast data on Brandon Moss.

And while some have noted that Moss' Batting Average on Balls in Play was relatively low (.236 vs. right-handers, .261 overall), Statcast™ shows he didn't exactly suffer from bad luck -- his average exit velocity of batted balls of 89.2 was right at the league average.

There were two main issues: Moss couldn't hit four-seam fastballs, and he couldn't hit strikes up and in or up and away.

Moss hit .198 against four-seam fastballs and saw more than twice as many four-seam fastballs (603) as any other pitch.

Rustin Dodd catches up with Royals pitcher Kyle Zimmer after his thoracic outlet syndrome surgery.

“It’s obviously a serious surgery,” Zimmer said, tracing his rehab process between autograph sessions on Saturday evening. “They’re taking out a rib and some muscles in your neck. It’s around a lot of dangerous stuff. But it’s not actually going into your shoulder joint. It’s not affecting your actual arm. So the rehab for it was a lot easier than, for example, my first shoulder surgery.”

For now, Zimmer expects to be “good to go” for spring training. But it remains likely that club officials will exercise caution with his workload. For Zimmer, this part is reality. When healthy, the Royals believe Zimmer has some of the most potent stuff in the organization. But his health remains the question mark.

I previewed the Royals on the FNTSY Radio Show.

Tracy Ringolsby at MLB.com writes about how the Royals will try for one last hurrah.

At Kings of Kauffman, Beau Estes looks at some of the pressing managerial decisions this year.

The Royals completed fundraising for the Urban Youth Academy sports complex.

Is Bruce Chen staging a comeback?

Former Royals reliever J.P. Howell signs with the Blue Jays.

Is Toronto interested in picking up David Robertson?

A look at velocity for the remaining free agent starting pitchers.

Is Victor Martinez the worst baserunner ever?

Chris Correa accuses the Astros of hacking the Cardinals first.

A minor leaguer makes his case for higher wages in lawsuit against MLB.

Lebron James and Charles Barkley are having a spat.

Everyone is pulling out of the proposed football stadium deal in Las Vegas.

The internet is mostly bots.

Ben Affleck is out as The Batman director.

How to activate your brain’s ability to learn.

Your song of the day is Guster with Homecoming King.