Weekend Rumblings - News for August 19, 2017

Weekend Rumblings - News for August 19, 2017

Salvador Perez could return as soon as Tuesday.

“He’s going to take BP (batting practice), a couple rounds on the field today,” Royals manager Ned Yost said Friday. “If he passes all that, he’ll take a full round of BP on the field on Saturday and we’ll ramp up the BP on Sunday with a machine and get some more game-type speed stuff on Sunday and Monday, and we’ll see where he is on Tuesday.”

Joakim Soria could miss up to two weeks, with Brandon Maurer likely to take over the eighth.

“It just depends on where we’re at in the game,” Yost said. “If everything lines up, will he be the guy? Yeah. But (Mike) Minor could be the guy. Shoot (Peter) Moylan could be the guy if we didn’t use him (earlier in a game).

“We kind of like Moylan, (Scott) Alexander, Minor to clean up stuff. It just depends where we are or what the situation is.”

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City frets about the bullpen.

There are four relievers other than Soria who have been in KC most or all of the season – Kelvin Herrera, Mike Minor, Peter Moylan and Scott Alexander. The only one of them with a higher percentage of his outings ending without allowing a run is Moylan. That’s not even remotely close to a perfect metric for evaluating a reliever, but with seemingly everyone struggling and needing someone to pitch the other innings, the options just aren’t great right now. For my money, I’d believe in Mike Minor given what he’s done all season, but he’s allowed seven runs in his last 9.1 innings, which is six of his last eight games. I certainly don’t believe in Brandon Maurer. Maybe they should give Ryan Buchter a shot at the eighth inning given his swing and miss stuff. But unless they’re willing to use Herrera for more than three outs (and that’s probably the real answer here), while Soria hasn’t impressed, the options are thin.

Eric Boston at Kings of Kauffman considers keeping Melky Cabrera beyond this year.

Another positive factor is that Melky will probably be looking at one or two year deals. Not many teams are going to be willing to commit to three or more seasons on a player who is entering the later stage of his career.

Your Kyle Zimmer update.

Lee Judge writes about how to attack a pitcher you’re facing for the first time.

This month’s Sports Crate haul for Royals fans seems to have improved.

How should we increase the number of balls in play?

Could the Reds be contenders next year?

If the Angels make the playoffs, is Mike Trout the MVP?

Jeff Passan looks for the best team money can buy.

There is a battle between the Cardinals and an animal shelter over Rally Cat.

The only full-time female scout in baseball doesn’t consider herself a trailblazer.

Derek Jeter can’t legally remove the home run machine from Marlins Park.

Red Sox owner John Henry wants to re-name “Yawkey Way” because of the former owner’s racist past.

The most epic trick play in baseball history.

The Chiefs are applying to host the NFL Draft - where would Kansas City put it?

NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith says a work stoppage in 2021 seems likely.

Animals will be super confused during the solar eclipse on Monday.

Applebee’s is giving up on millennials.

Ranking Stephen Soderbergh movies.

Your song of the day is Gene Ammons with Close Your Eyes.