Royals Rumblings - News for September 28, 2017

The pending free agents reflected on their run with the Royals:

Vargas, who threw six strong innings in Tuesday's win, seemed perhaps the most emotional in talking about his four years with the Royals.

"It's been unbelievable," Vargas said. "I don't want to get too much into it. I got one more start left. I'd like to think about it after that. But the ride's been unbelievable. I've experienced things here that I've never experienced in my life before, made better friends here than I've ever made. I'm just looking forward to getting to put the uniform on one more time."

Mike Minor has emerged as a potential closer in September:

Minor got the call in the ninth and he blew the Indians away, striking out the side, for his first career save. It ended the Indians' 22-game winning streak.

"We put him in that spot," Yost said. "It started in Cleveland in that big game. We had an opportunity to win the first game [of the series] and we didn't. Joakim Soria was still out at that time. The next night came along, we had the exact same situation, a one-run lead, and he went in and was absolutely fantastic.

"And he's been like that. He seems to thrive in that position."

Forever trying to make a name for himself on the national scene, Nick Cafardo weighs in on some of the Royals’ futures:

Mike Moustakas, 3B, Royals — According to a Royals official, “He would hit 45 [homers] at Fenway easy.” But Moustakas is not likely in the Red Sox’ sights since their need may be for more of a 1B/DH power type, and teammate Eric Hosmer might be a better fit. Moustakas, who has hit 37 homers and knocked in 83 runs this season, will get plenty of looks from the Yankees, Mets, Giants, and Angels, for starters.

5. Lorenzo Cain, OF, Royals — There’s a possibility the Royals could make a play to keep Cain, who will be a free agent. Cain is still a very good outfielder, but he’s hitting free agency when he’ll be 32 years old. Would Cain be better off staying put rather than testing the waters? Cain has been a .300 hitter all season with an OPS above .800.

BP’s Nicholas Stellini talks of the looming breakup of the band:

Kansas City’s back-to-back sprints to the World Series is some of the finest baseball ever played. We may never see a game as great as the 2014 AL Wild Card game in our lifetimes. It is a masterpiece, a glorious mess that entire books could be written about. Their subsequent romp through the playoffs and chess match with the Giants was incredible, and their victory the following year a crowning achievement. The Royals made no sense, and it was flawless logic to turn baseball into the world’s biggest game of pinball.

It went downhill quickly thereafter. Kansas City finished at .500 last year, and may wind up under that mark before this season is out. They will lose a fair amount of talent, and will embark on a painful rebuild. The Royals don’t have much of a farm system right now. It’s going to be a long process.

The team was only truly good for perhaps two years. It was absolutely worth it. Any other assessment is lacking in perspective. The Royals went to the World Series twice, and won the second time. They won a championship, and they did it in their own way.

David Lesky laments the end of the Royalcoaster ride.

Colby Wilson squints at Wednesday’s game trying to ascertain how the Royals’ future might look.

Nicholas Sullivan looks at the Royals minor league award winners.

How might arbitration under the new CBA change in regards to guys like Francisco Lindor and José Ramírez?

Byron Buxton tells FanGraphs how he worked on his explosiveness to make himself even better defensively.

Brian Dozier apparently doesn’t only have to pull the ball for power?

The Detroit Tigers have signed 17-year-old Pedro Martinez Jr.

The quest for palm oil is endangering the Leuser ecosystem in Sumatra.

A story of a father who went undercover in the local criminal underground to find his son’s killers.

Pitchfork chats with Brad Cook (member of Megafaun and band manager extraordinaire) about managing bands and releasing music in this new landscape for music.

Alan Sepinwall posits that while TV revivals are generally a bad idea, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s return is not.

The song of the day is “Trouble Man” by Marvin Gaye: