Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for February 3, 2017

Will the Royals be visiting Dongtown more?

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Feb 3, 2017, 8:00am EST

Royals Rumblings - News for February 3, 2017

Sam Mellinger doesn’t quite agree that the Royals are shifting philosophies.

But more to the point, I believe, these are the deals that availed themselves. Moss was on the market, for a reasonable price, and was a good fit as a left-handed power hitter, a guy who can mash righties as a DH, and play some in the field if the Royals really want to rotate the DH. Soler, same deal. The Royals and Cubs matched up as trade partners, Soler is under club control for four years, and a deal is made.

If Royals officials are honest, they’ll admit they came by some of their emphasis on speed by good fortune. One of the first things Dayton Moore said when he took the job was that he wanted to move the fences in. David Glass overruled him.

But I digress. Point is, they still have a lot of speed and defense.

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City looks at the new, more power-hitting Royals.

So when you factor in the return of Mike Moustakas (a 9.7% HR/FB rate the last three years along with 336 feet on average of fly balls last year) and the reliability of Alex Gordon (7.9% HR/FB rate in his career and 328 feet of average distance last year), it’s easy to see that the lineup could hit more home runs than they have in the past. It’s not the Bash Brothers or the ’27 Yankees. It’s still the Royals. They still play half their games at The K. When we speak of home runs and power, we need to speak in relative terms. Yet, as the game has evolved over the just last couple of years to a more home run friendly environment, it’s heartening to see the Royals and their brain trust recognizes the trends and is doing something to stay in the game.

Now if someone could only get Hosmer to generate some loft.

Beau Estes at Kings of Kauffman tries to sort out the Royals roster so far.

So who get’s the final two spots? If Kansas City signs a starter before spring training – Jason Hammel? Doug Fister? Travis Wood? – Young moves to long relief. The Royals also have invited a cast of veteran relievers and minor leaguers not on the 40-man roster to spring training as non-roster invitees. The best guess among the non-roster invites is 27-year-old right-hander Chris Withrow, who posted a 3.58 ERA in 37 2/3rd innings of relief for Atlanta last season. After missing all of 2015 following Tommy John surgery, Withrow’s arm could conceivably be even stronger this year than in 2016.

The Royals still project to be the second-best team defensively.

The Royals affiliate in Burlington parodied the lame Lane Kiffin recruiting video.

Miller and Boulevard Beer will be the official beers of the Royals.

ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza was in town this week and she would like to see more women in baseball front offices.

Baseball may be moving away from paying sluggers big money.

Evan Davis at Beyond the Boxscore writes the A’s are a shell of their former selves.

The Indians add lefty reliever Boone Logan.

The Cardinals lock up young pitcher Carlos Martinez on a long-term deal.

The starting pitching market didn’t exactly go nuts this winter.

Japanese superstar Shohei Otani won’t pitch in the World Baseball Classic.

Colts punter Pat McAfee retires to become a sports blogger.

Why Atlanta is a great American sports city.