Royals Rumblings - News for May 8, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for May 8, 2017

Sam Mellinger looks at what a Royals firesale might look like.

Depending on how various teams’ needs lined up, the Royals could have trade talks involving Jason Vargas, Ian Kennedy, Kelvin Herrera — even Danny Duffy or Sal Perez could be had for the right offer, though either remains a long shot to be dealt in any scenario.

The point here: The Royals are beginning to prepare for a major roster overhaul that would require any talk of the championship core to come in the past tense, end any illusion of winning in the near future, and start the long and tedious (ahem) process of building back from the ground up.

Because if a team is going to lose, it’s best to lose early, so the front office can break the team down and sell off parts.

Ned Yost is perplexed.

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City gives his opinion on what might happen to Eric Hosmer this winter.

To me, the guy to look at is Adrian Beltre. He spent a few seasons in Seattle that were largely underwhelming. He ended up signing a one-year deal with the Red Sox to establish value and then signed a long deal with the Rangers and he’s still there today. I just don’t buy Hosmer signing for only two years. Plus, the odds are that he ends the season with respectable numbers and some team sees his postseason experience and other big game work and probably gives him too big of a deal. I hope it’s not the Royals. He has been hitting the ball better of late. His ISO is still under .100, but he’s at least been driving the ball a little better. At least it seems that way. He’s notoriously streaky. Maybe he’s about to get hot and get his season numbers back to his typical levels.

Nick Cafardo has notes on the Royals in his Sunday column.

The Royals have their scouts scouring the farm systems of organizations they feel they might match up with in trades for pending free agents Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas. The prevailing thought is the Royals can move Cain the easiest, but he’s the one they’d most like to keep. They will likely re-sign shortstop Alcides Escobar, whose contract also expires after the season.

David Schoenfield of ESPN lists Hosmer as off to one of the worst starts in 2017.

There are plenty of hitters with a line worse than Hosmer's .271/.319/.393, but when you dig deeper, he has been even worse than those numbers suggest. You can start with the eight double plays he has grounded into; hey, that's what happens when you hit balls to the second baseman all the time. Going back to win probability, which factors in the score and inning of the game, Hosmer has been the 180th "most" valuable hitter among 183 MLB qualifiers. That's thanks to a .214 average with runners in scoring position entering Saturday, including 0-for-6 with the bases loaded or runners on second and third. In high-leverage situations, he was 2-for-28 through Thursday.

Vahe Gregorian writes the Royals have gone from “never out of it” to “never in it.”

Jen Nevius wonders if a Christian Binford promotion to Omaha means Jake Junis is coming up for Kansas City.

Lorenzo Cain tells Lee Judge that hitters hit pitcher’s mistakes.

Garth Brooks donated a press box to the Royals’ Urban Youth Academy.

The Mets suspend Matt Harvey for three games for insubordination.

Brandon Belt is an underrated player.

Tim Tebow is quite a draw in the minor leagues.

The effect of hitting infield fly balls.

There won’t be a Conor McGregor/Floyd Mayweather fight on September 16 because we may get a competitive fight instead.

U.S. Olympic bobsledder Steven Holcomb is found dead at age 37.

Steven Seagal gets a five-year ban from the Ukraine.

Sci-fi female leads tend to be deadly, beautiful, and incredibly naive.

Why Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is an undeniable mess.

Your song of the day is Gary Clark, Jr. with Shake.