Royals Rumblings - News for May 5, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for May 5, 2017

The Royals will re-assess Ian Kennedy today after he suffered a Grade 1 hamstring injury in Thursday’s loss.

"It feels fine right now, walking," Kennedy said. "But extending fully, I felt it on the popup before. Then, I felt it pull to the next hitter. It's on the push-off leg."

Kennedy injured his other hamstring toward the end of Spring Training in 2016. He didn't miss a start to begin that season, but he was pushed back a few days.

"It felt like a groin because it's right on the inside," Kennedy said. "They have told me to not test it. It stinks."

Sam Mellinger sounds the alarm on the season.

The problem isn’t just the results, but the journey. One scout this week called the Royals “uninspired.” Another said it “looks like they’re going through the motions sometimes.”

Despite some positive signs this week, Gordon and Eric Hosmer have been the two biggest underachievers when compared to expectation and salary. But singling them out feels a little unfair because it’s been such a team effort.

Moustakas is playing well. Lorenzo Cain is getting on base. Sal Perez is hitting for power. Jason Vargas has been great, and Danny Duffy was, too, until his last two starts. Pretty much everyone else, bleh.

They are caught in, or have created, the nasty and wicked cycle most bad teams find. The same way the Royals of a few years ago found ways to win, this group is finding ways to lose.

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City looks at the free-swingin’ Royals.

This season has been marked by offensive extremes. Take the swing percentage and the chase rate, coupled with the fact the Royals rank last in baseball with 2.8 runs scored per game, almost 0.6 runs per game fewer than the 29th ranked team, and it’s easy to understand why so many are flinging themselves off the offensive bandwagon. The singles train has been reduced to a stubborn old mule.

Maria Torres notes that Eric Hosmer is heating up.

“I’ve been feeling better and better,” Hosmer said. “I think we like where we are as an offense as of tonight. We’ve just got to continue to keep pushing through and got to win a series tomorrow.”

Alex Gordon sets the franchise record for most hit-by-pitches.

“I guess people don’t like me,” Gordon said Thursday, after an 8-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. “That’s why they hit me.”

Jason Hammel is trying to be more pitch-efficient.

“Be aggressive in the strike zone,” Hammel said. “I’m getting myself into deep counts because I’m trying to throw a perfect pitch early in the count instead of ‘throw a strike and get ahead.’”

Jorge Bonifacio wants to be known as more than Emilio’s brother.

But about a year away from beginning his gantlet of major-league tryouts, Bonifacio’s agent sat him down, looked the 15-year-old in the eye and shattered the illusion he’d created for himself.

“My agent told me, ‘You’re different. You can’t do what he does. You won’t play the same game as him,’ ” said Bonifacio of Emilio, a 32-year-old utility man with the Atlanta Braves who played for the Royals during 2013. “I knew I had to make that change.”

Joe Posnanski looks back at the impressive career of Carlos Beltran.

In the meantime, there’s something touching about watching Carlos Beltrán after all these years. Before his career began, I asked Allard Baird, then a Kansas City scout and later the Royals general manager, how good Beltrán could become. He said, “I don’t say this lightly — I’ve probably only said this about two or three players I’ve seen: Carlos Beltrán can become as good as he wants to be.”

Beltrán apparently wanted to be pretty good.

A look back at some of the odd things that have happened on Royals’ School Day.

The Royals have had the biggest April attendance drop in baseball.

At Baseball America, Jake Junis talks about his unexpected promotion.

Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright is out for the season with a knee injury.

Umpire getting hit in the crotch! Umpire getting hit in the crotch!

Curt Schilling thinks Adam Jones is lying about fans yelling racist slurs.

Cord-cutting could become a crisis for MLB, which relies on cable revenues.

The Cubs have already damaged their World Series trophy by crowdsurfing.

One fan honored his dead buddy by flushing his ashes in the toilet of every ballpark.

Experts are split on who will take the Kentucky Derby this weekend.

Former Chiefs running back Larry Johnson gave an eye-opening interview on Kansas City radio.

A couple famous for playing pranks on their kids on Youtube have their kids taken away.

How Google Docs got turned into a spam machine.

Your guide to 2017 fall television pilots.

Your song of the day is Miguel Mendez with Maniac Psycho.