Royals Rumblings - News for June 19, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for June 19, 2017

Jon Morosi still sees the Royals as sellers, despite the winning.

The Yankees are considering upgrades at third base, where Chase Headley is having one of the worst offensive seasons of his career. (He's also committed the second-most errors of any Major League third baseman this year.) Many in the industry have expected the Yankees' improvement to come from within, thanks to top prospect Gleyber Torres. But Torres injured his left elbow in a Triple-A game Saturday, halting (at least temporarily) his rapid progress through the Minors.

Boston's need at third base is even more glaring, with the worst OPS at the position (.565) of any team in the Majors. Pablo Sandoval has fallen out of the everyday job, despite having two years and $37.2 million left on his contract after the current season ends. Headley, for the record, is under contract for 2018 at $13 million.

If the Royals have even the faintest hope of acquiring top prospect Rafael Devers from the Red Sox in a Moustakas trade, their best chance of doing so is if the Yankees are involved and increase the price.

Buster Olney (INSIDER) doesn’t expect a hot market for position players, despite players like Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer potentially on the market.

A major injury would change everything, but for now, the Reds probably won’t have a lot of bidders for Cozart.

The same may turn out to be true for Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates, or for the Royals with Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer. The Dodgers, Astros and Yankees don’t need much in the way of position-player help, the Red Sox have a particular hole to fill at third base, and the Nationals might use the best of their trade assets to bolster their bullpen.

David Lesky of Baseball Prospectus Kansas City likes what he saw out of Matt Strahm’s first start.

Strahm held his velocity the whole outing and he seemed to be getting better as the game went on. This was one of those games that if it wasn’t his first start, you’d be looking at him going seven or eight to save the bullpen. We see guys all the time have a great first start and then falter, so there’s some cautious optimism to be used here, but Strahm is also a guy who has had plenty of big league success early in his career, so it’s a little different. His next start will be against the Red Sox, so the test is a little greater than the Angels, but it’s hard to be anything but very positive about his first start.

Colby Wilson of Kings of Kauffman thinks it is time for Brandon Moss to go.

For a bad team, a DH hitting .180 wouldn’t be much of a concern. You give him 450 at-bats, kick back and start scouting your top-eight pick for next season. As the KC Royals seem convinced that they can compete in 2017—and given both the recent run of success on the West Coast and the overall putridity of the AL Central, it’s become difficult to disagree with this assessment—a DH who can’t hit his body weight is a problem.

The trouble for the KC Royals and Ned Yost is that options are scarce. Drew Butera is needed to give Salvador Perez a breather and as insurance in case something happens to Salvy. Ramon Torres and Cheslor Cuthbert are… bad. The job falls to Moss by default. What other play does Ned have here?

Remembering Dick Howser, 30 years after his death.

Lee Judge continues to beat the RBI drum.

Jason Hammel still carries memories of his late father.

Being a dad puts a smile on Lorenzo Cain’s face.

Peter O’Brien continues his sojourn around baseball, now with the Dodgers.

Michael Engel of Baseball Prospectus Kansas City talks to Royals scouting director Lonnie Goldberg.

On KTGR, Dan Szymborski talks about the success of the Royals.

Lexington outfielder Kort Peterson (now promoted to Wilmington) and pitchers Jace Vines and Grant Gavin were named South Atlantic League All-Stars.

Everything is going right for the Rockies, as Nolan Arenado hits for the cycle.

Yonder Alonso is open to an extension in Oakland.

Catchers trips to the mound are something baseball needs to address.

The baseball card pose power rankings.

A former Mets first round pick walked away from the game because he hated baseball.

Marc Normandin thinks Tim Tebow should be a knuckleballer.

Why did the Celtics trade the #1 pick?

Lebron James had a birthday party for his son, then dunked on all the kids.

Why do people believe conspiracy theories?

Sweden has a Museum of Failures that has products that flopped.

Let’s talk about how crazy the Cars universe is.

Your song of the day is Motley Crue with Home Sweet Home.