Royals Rumblings - News for July 19, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for July 19, 2017

You can’t keep Alcides Escobar out of this lineup.

Teammate Jason Vargas jokes that Escobar is like a shark -- all cartilage and no bones, therefore nothing can get broken.

Royals manager Ned Yost concurs, saying, "Esky just has a unique body. He doesn't break down."

Ned Yost still believes in this team.

“We’re right in the middle of this division,” Yost said on Tuesday afternoon. “We’re in it.”

The Royals are feeling the urgency of their situation.

In his Mellinger Minutes, Sam Mellinger considers what the Royals will do at the deadline.

I know we’re going to get into this a little more, but the inconvenient truth is that the most likely scenario has always been that the Royals don’t do a major trade before the deadline, and miss the playoffs.

This is nuanced, and subjective, but I happen to believe this is also the smartest approach for the Royals. They don’t have the infrastructure to be major buyers, and if they’re on the fringe of a playoff spot they can’t be major sellers.

Some of this is the result of a bigger plan to attempt what I believe to be an impossible walk of the tightrope: to rebuild while winning while limiting payroll.

David Lesky of Baseball Prospectus Kansas City mulls the Jorge Soler demotion.

On the flip side, the Royals are notoriously patient with players at the big league level. This is pure speculation, but maybe there’s something Soler has done that has rubbed the organization the wrong way and they want to see him work on whatever that is in the minors. And, it very well could be that maybe the Royals believe they’ve made a mistake in their evaluation of Soler and would like to get rid of him at the first opportunity they have.

Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated makes his bold predictions, and thinks the Royals will still make the playoffs.

Because approximately one billion Kansans and Missourians will take umbrage on social media otherwise, I am predicting that Ned Yost's plucky band of blue-clad baseballers will shore up their bullpen, convince Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar to hit again, and charge into the playoffs via a wild card berth.It will be a fitting conclusion for the group that returned Kansas City to respectability and brought that city a World Series title in 2015, but it won't do anything to stop that aforementioned triumvirate of position players from heading for greener pastures in free agency.

Turn Ahead the Clock Night between the Royals and Mariners was 18 years ago this week and the uniforms still look ridiculous.

Baseball America lists their mid-season top ten Royals prospect list.

Patrick Brennan at Royals Farm Report lists his Top 30 Royals prospects.

The Tigers ship J.D. Martinez to the Diamondbacks.

The Yankees land Todd Frazier and two relievers from the White Sox.

Carlos Correa is out 6-8 weeks with a thumb injury.

Is Zack Britton the Andrew Miller of the 2017 trade deadline?

David Laurila at Fangraphs talks to baseball players about the ninth-inning mentality for closers.

The sale of the Marlins to businessman Jorge Mas hits a snag.

Washington is messing up the Kirk Cousins contract situation.

The NBA is getting rid of the distinction between home and road jerseys.

Is the crypto-coin market a ticking time bomb?

The firing of the performer for Kermit the Frog has gotten ugly.

Oh hi! James Franco stars in a biopic of cult film star Tommy Wiseau.

Your song of the day is Harvey Danger with Flagpole Sitta.