Weekend Rumblings - News for August 5, 2017

Weekend Rumblings - News for August 5, 2017

After a dispute on a home run on Thursday, Ned Yost has a suggestion for foul poles.

“Why don’t they paint the poles black?” Yost said, sitting in his office on Friday afternoon. “Would that make it tougher to see? With yellow, it’s really tough to tell … but if it was black, it would be more contrast.”

Alex Gordon was out of the lineup on Friday, but don’t expect him to sit a lot.

Yet for the moment, Royals manager Ned Yost says, the addition of Cabrera will not mean a significant reduction in playing time for Gordon.

“You put together a team,” Yost said this week. “It’s a team. A lot of times it’s not the guys that have the best collection of averages that win.”

For now, the calculus is somewhat simple: The Royals still value Gordon’s premium defense in left field. A litany of statistics and metrics still indicate that his defense is elite.

Jorge Bonifacio is trying to adjust to not being in the lineup every day.

"It's kinda tough," Bonifacio said. "I try to be ready for whatever opportunity I get. I don't put it in my mind if I'm not playing today. I don't cool down."

Sam Mellinger writes that Ned Yost doesn’t have the luxury of “HDH” anymore.

Many nights, Yost didn’t even have to walk out to the mound. Pitching-changes were done between innings, clean innings, innings so reliable you could start to make plans for afterward.

Now? With this team? Those last nine outs are most of what Yost thinks about. The lineup is fairly easy, and by now the clubhouse mostly runs itself. But trying to figure out which relievers to use and exactly when to use them takes up most of his day.

Royals TV ratings have surged with the winning streak.

Nate Karns is fine after his thoracic outlet syndrome surgery.

Fangraphs summarizes their series on free agent trends.

Bill James looks at whether career wins is meaningful for starting pitchers.

Ozzie Albies was born in 1997 and he became the first player born that year to hit a home run.

The Arizona Diamondbacks deny they are threatening to leave if they don’t get a new stadium.

Former Commissioner Fay Vincent thinks legalized sports betting is coming nationwide soon.

Protective baseball cap guards are not proving to be popular among pitchers.

Is the MLS a ponzi scheme?

The sad tale of how the brutality of football took its toll on quarterback Jim Plunkett.

Is Patreon bringing artists and audiences together?

Why is Martin Shkreli swaggering into jail after being convicted of securities fraud?

Why Stephen King’s Dark Tower is so incredibly difficult to adapt.

Your song of the day is Coleman Hawkins with There is No Greater Love.