Royals Rumblings - News for July 11, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for July 11, 2017

Was Mike Moustakas robbed in the Home Run Derby?

He didn’t seem to mind too much, enjoying the experience.

“It’s all good, man,” he said. “It was fun, regardless of the outcome. I had a great time. No matter what happened, it was great.”

Moustakas had said his strategy was to “swing for the fences,” which is typical of his preference to keep things as simple as possible.

Small changes have made Jason Vargas an All-Star this year.

In rehab terms, Vargas was a star, an overachieving student who aced every test. His arm rarely suffered the soreness that marks certain phases. The Royals’ medical staff marveled at his progress. But as his throwing program continued — first catch, then long toss, then bullpen side sessions — Eiland began to notice something kind of strange. As he returned to throwing, Vargas’ release point had dropped lower, maybe 2 inches. As Vargas stepped on the mound in the bullpen, Eiland sought to take a closer inspection.

“When you come back from Tommy John,” Eiland says, “sometimes your arm goes naturally to where it wants to go.”

Dayton Moore originally did not want to sign Vargas to a contract this long.

But they originally wanted him on a three-year contract. Studies have shown that big contracts on free-agent starting pitchers are the worst investments teams make, and the Royals have been particularly selective in this area.

Moore took a call from Mike Sweeney, who said Vargas was interested in the Royals. Dean Taylor, then an executive with the club who has since retired, told Moore they could probably sign Vargas by upping the offer to four years.

Moore didn’t want to, at first. But after talking about it with his scouts, they decided to do it based on a lot of factors: the ballpark, Vargas’ work ethic, the immediate needs of a team ready to win, and, perhaps ironically after the surgery, no medical red flags.

Vargas makes The Ringer’s “All-Surprise Team.”

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus warns the Royals still aren’t getting production from the leadoff spot.

Their collective .236 OBP is almost 40 points lower than the next worst team, an astounding gap. They are the only team in the league with a slugging percentage below .300. The Royals leadoff batter’s sOPS+ (their OPS+ for the split relative to the league split, meaning 100 is league average) is 42. Since they’re entrenched at the bottom, it’s easy to compare their production from the leadoff role against the league average.

Do not adjust your internet. The Royals have received abysmal production from the top of their order.

The Royals are on the prowl on the trade market.

Royals players made it to Miami in style.

Rule 5 pick RHP Glenn Sparkman was returned to the Royals and assigned to AA.

Salvador Perez is dropped from the Top 50 players in trade value by Fangraphs.

Some of the top moments in All-Star Game history.

Jorge Mas will reportedly buy the Marlins for over a billion dollars.

Meanwhile, the team is suing their season ticketholders.

How are the Angels winning without Mike Trout?

You won’t be seeing erectile dysfunction drug ads on the NFL this year.

The Chiefs have a new GM and he’s barely older than me.

Newspapers are asking Congress if they can negotiate collectively with Facebook and Google.

Anti-biotic resistant gonorrhea a problem that is only getting worse.

The definitive ranking of Game of Thrones episodes from The Ringer.

Your song of the day is Gloria Estefan with Miami Sound Machine with Conga.