Weekend Rumblings - News for January 13-14, 2018

George Brett opens some baseball cards and extols the virtues of the porn stache and talks about almost being traded for Tony Perez.

BP’s Matthew Trueblood posits that Lorenzo Cain will probably be the bargain buy of the offseason:

Whenever the dust settles, however, it looks more and more like Cain will be the bargain buy of the winter. There are many potential explanations for the lack of enthusiasm that has allowed him to sit on the market for this long, but no good ones. Cain is, quietly, a later-blooming, slightly injury-prone Kenny Lofton. He’s as good a bet to be an average-plus player over the next five years as any remaining free agent, including the guys (Eric Hosmer and J.D. Martinez, at least) who seem certain to get way more money and longer deals.

It’s easy to see Cain’s red flags, but harder, perhaps, to see the things that make taking those risks worthwhile. Principal among teams’ concerns about Cain, of course, is his age. He’ll turn 32 in April, and since his elite speed is one major source of his value, teams are especially circumspect about investing in him into his mid-30s. In reality, however, Cain is so well-rounded (and applies his athleticism so well to all facets of the game) that his age really is just a number.

At BP KC, David Lesky busts out his Friday notes. First note:

I think at this point in the offseason, the Royals should be looking to take advantage of the market. I mentioned yesterday that I don’t like the idea of signing someone with the plan of trading them, but they’re in a bit of enviable position that they can take a risk. Think about a player like Jonathan Lucroy. The market for him seems to be basically non-existent. On the surface, it’s hard to see how he fits with the Royals. Admittedly, this one is a stretch, but why not try to make it work? Sign Lucroy, let him catch, play first and DH. He does his thing where he puts up a solid OBP and at the deadline, one of the teams looking to make a push to the postseason needs a veteran catcher. Lucroy isn’t a great example because of Salvador Perez, but this would absolutely be the season to give him even more of a break behind the plate in a season where they aren’t likely to go anywhere. Give him some time off at DH and some time at first and maybe they get first half Salvy (.290/.318/.532) all season and that’s a bat that plays anywhere. I know Lucroy isn’t the best example, but he’s the one I’ve been thinking about in trying to find a fit on the Royals as a mid-season trade chip. There are others too, and if the Royals are really serious about expediting this rebuild, signing some guys with depressed markets is a pretty good way to go about it.

The Royals avoided arbitration with Kelvin Herrera and Nathan Karns.

KoK’s Nathan Williams proclaims 2018 the year of Raúl A. Mondesí.

Craig Edwards uses historical comps to try to figure out how J.D. Martinez could age through the contract he should sign this offseason and see if he’ll fall off a cliff.

Travis Sawchik suggests that maybe the Cubs should think about developing some starting pitching.

At SoE, Anthony Castrovince looks at teams who look to improve via performances from players already on their rosters.

Mightn’t the DoJ crackdown on weed actually be good for the spread of legalization?

The CIA asked Moby to tweet about the Steele Dossier being legit?

Can you just make some art or jewelry out of your hair already? Stop letting it go to waste.

Bob Odenkirk will be starring in an action movie brought to you by the John Wick team. Yes, you read that correctly. Also, Starz is moving forward with a series set in the John Wick universe, presently titled The Continental.

The song of the day is “Truth” by Kamasi Washington: