Weekend Rumblings - News for July 8, 2017

Weekend Rumblings - News for July 8, 2017

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City considers who the Royals may trade for in July.

If the Royals are buying, one area I’d fully expect them to look to upgrade would be at starting pitcher. There’s all sorts of uncertainty around Nate Karns and if he’ll even be back this season, so they will likely need one more piece. Nick Cafardo recently wrote that he thinks the Royals will target top of the rotation arms, but Cafardo also routinely has been very wrong regarding the Royals plans, so I’ll go ahead and file that away and not worry about it. I think mid-rotation arms are a much more likely target, and there are actually a few who could make sense. My list of who I think will at least be in rumors includes Andrew Cashner, Jhoulys Chacin, Marco Estrada, Scott Feldman, J.A. Happ, Derek Holland, Ivan Nova (though I don’t think I can see him traded), Dan Straily and Edinson Volquez.

Devan Fink at Beyond the Boxscore still thinks the Royals should sell.

Kansas City must pull the trigger now in order to avoid falling into a multi-year rut of ambiguity. Core players Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar (though he’s having a pretty awful year) are all free agents this winter, and in my mind the team’s market size isn’t big enough to keep any more than just one of them. To add insult to injury, there are two Boras clients in the bunch in Hosmer and Moustakas who are very likely walking away fro KC when their contracts expire.

This team needs to restock the farm, and they don’t have the qualifying offer rules to help them out under the new CBA, either. In February, Minor League Ball rated the Royals’ minor league system as the 25th-best in the Majors. Kansas City needs to focus on acquiring talent that is able to help them out in two to three years when they begin to build their next core.

George Brett thinks Salvador Perez can make Cooperstown someday.

“Of course he can,” said George Brett, the only Hall of Famer to play most of his career with the Royals. “He’s got a chance, yeah. If he’s 10 years in a row the starting catcher for the American League in the All-Star game? Holy (expletive).”

This is a real thing with Perez now as he’s set for his fifth All-Star game on Tuesday, just two months after his 27th birthday. He is a perennial All-Star, a key part of a World Series champion, author of one of the most iconic moments in Royals history, and just now entering what should be the prime of his career.

Already, he has been chosen to more All-Star teams than Hall of Famers Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, and Carlton Fisk at the same age. Yogi Berra made the fifth of his 15 All-Star teams — most ever by a catcher — when he was 27.

Zane Evans’ pitching attempt is over.

Alcides Escobar’s son has some bat-flip skills.

Eric Boston at Kings of Kauffman takes a look at Ryan O’Hearn.

Baseball America has their mid-season Top 100 prospect list up with no Royals.

The Home Run Derby “curse” is a myth - it won’t mess up your swing.

The Braves and Nats had a three-hour rain delay with no rain.

Chris Cotillo at MLB Daily Dish looks at who each team would protect in an expansion draft.

Terry Francona is out for the All-Star Game, Brad Mills will manage in his place.

Theo Epstein says the Cubs need to fix their clubhouse.

What would a free amateur market look like?

Bartolo Colon signs a minor league deal with the Twins.

RIP MLB and NBA champion Gene Conley.

The Carolina Panthers secretly tweeted the lyrics to Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

What’s up with Lena Dunham and dogs?

Squirrels used to be one of the most popular pets in America.

The world’s greatest movies are stuck on a terrible website.

Your song of the day is Dexter Gordon with Confirmation.