Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for August 23, 2017

Oh it’s wonderful to have Salvy back.

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Aug 23, 2017, 8:00am EDT

Royals Rumblings - News for August 23, 2017

Eno Sarris at Fangraphs talks to Danny Duffy about how his stuff has evolved.

This year is the closest Duffy has ever come to throwing more sinkers than four-seamers. There’s always a ground-ball benefit — “I started getting more ground balls, more weak contact,” said Duffy, who is currently enjoying the highest ground-ball rate of his career — but this change was more about command than outcomes on balls in play.

When Duffy first came up, the refrain was that he’d go as far as his command would take him. “I thought I had to be so fine when I was younger, because I struggled with the strike zone so much,” Duffy remembered. “Then I figured out that it was all about repetition. You can’t expedite it; experience will give it to you.”

An update on Kelvin Herrera after he left last night’s game.

Ned Yost says Kelvin Herrera has "forearm tightness". That's all they know for now.
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) August 23, 2017

Sam Mellinger considers how much blame Dayton Moore should get for his recent moves.

So how much blame you give him is entirely up to you, though I’d argue it should be in proportion to how much credit you gave him for 2014 and 2015.

For me, he’s had a bad go since the parade. And much of this can be traced back to the original sin of trying to do everything at once.

All of that is true and so is this: I believe he’s the best general manager in Royals history.

My top three: Dayton Moore, Cedric Tallis, John Schuerholz.

I assume most would have Schuerholz first, and that’s fine, but we should all agree it’s a joke that Tallis isn’t in the team Hall of Fame.

Vahe Gregorian writes that Mike Moustakas is the perfect player to break Steve Balboni’s home run record.

But the best part of the story isn’t just eclipsing a record that tracks with the lost generation of baseball here before the wonders of 2014 and 2015 were unfurled.

It’s that it is being accomplished by Moustakas, who like several other beloved and key players may be in his last season with the franchise, considering his opportunity to become a free agent after the season.

It’s being hatched by one of the cornerstones of the rebirth of the franchise.

Darin Watson at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City has mixed feelings about Balboni’s record falling.

At last, here we are on the cusp of that record going down. Mike Moustakas has 35 home runs with 39 games left this season. Barring injury, the record is going bye-bye.

You might think I’m sad to see it go. And you’d be partially correct. Thirty-six has been burned into my consciousness for three decades now, through Bo Jackson, Gary Gaetti, Bob Hamelin, Mike Sweeney, and Carlos Beltran.

Bubba Starling is out for the year with an oblique injury.

Miguel Almonte was placed on the 60-day disabled list to make room on the 40-man roster for Paulo Orlando.

Why Alex Gordon continues to play after he was “benched.”

Is it already time for the Giants to give up on Pablo Sandoval?

The Mets continue their run of bad medical decisions.

How promotions and demotions affect reliever performance.

What should the MLB home run record be anyway?

Are retractable roofs the best way to increase MLB attendance?

The worst team in all of professional baseball does not want your pity.

Ten years ago, the Rangers gave the Orioles the worst beat-down in modern baseball history.

MLB will implement new rules on fan conduct next year.

Chart Party with Jon Bois looks at the history of the NFL since 1987.