Royals Rumblings - News for March 27, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for March 27, 2017

Danny Duffy took his Opening Day assignment in stride.

“This week hasn’t sucked,” Duffy said.

Boston Globe reporter Nick Cafardo thinks Raúl Mondesístarts at second, and reports Boston could be a trade partner for the Royals.

The Royals are another team to watch, but the early season seems too premature to unload major players such as first baseman Eric Hosmer, third baseman Mike Moustakas, and center fielder Lorenzo Cain, all free agents after this season.

One team the Royals are watching in terms of Hosmer with their first base situation is the Red Sox, depending upon how well Mitch Moreland performs. The Red Sox, however, are eyeing Sam Travis as their future first baseman.

Devan Fink at Beyond the Boxscore agrees with the decision to put Nathan Karns in the rotation.

All three projection systems tend to agree on the type of player that Karns is. He’s a mid-4 ERA guy who will average around a strikeout per inning with decent control. And, for a fifth starter, it’s hard to argue with results like that. Karns can easily be the innings-eater that the Royals signed him to be.

But, it’s also possible for Karns to see some growth. With such a devastating curveball and the fastball velocity that he has, Karns’ upside is still pretty big. The lack of a good third offering definitely limits his potential, and that’s probably why he was never a front-line prospect to ever begin with. Still, though, better fastball control, and Karns’ abilities go from those of a No. 5 starter to those of a No. 2 or 3.

The players on the roster bubble remain in good spirits.

“Everyone is so close to each other and people care genuinely about each other,” Merrifield said. “They know that it’s a long season and there’s going to be a lot of moves made throughout the season and at some point we’re probably going to need most of these guys that are in this clubhouse to contribute. I think it’s pretty well known around here and some people try to … keep everyone in good spirits.”

Rustin Dodd breaks down the Royals roster questions heading into the last week of camp.

Ned Yost talks about the second base job.

Lorenzo Cain talks about how a rangy middle infielder makes an outfielder’s job easier.

Lee Judge thinks Matt Strahm needs to throw a slider.

Patrick Brennan at Kings of Kauffman has his bold predictions for the Royals.

Former Royals outfielder Jose Martinez is a spring training star with the Cardinals, but Jim Bowden is skeptical (INSIDER).

The Tigers will convert Anthony Gose into a pitcher.

Detroit also released reliever Mark Lowe, eating $5.5 million on his deal.

The Indians are working on a long-term deal for Francisco Lindor, confirms the General Manager’s small child.

Kolten Wong would rather be traded than platoon with the Cardinals.

Koda Glover could be closing for the Nationals this year.

Mike Trout proposes having younger umpires work parts of spring training games to gain experience.

Northwest Missouri State wins a football and basketball championship in the same year.

Abolish the NBA draft!

The new IFC comedy Brockmire is a “sybaritic love story to baseball”.

Gamestop will close 150 stores this year.

The new Han Solo movie suggests that he originally had a different name, and Twitter is not happy about that.

Your song of the day is The Kinks with Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy.