Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for January 16, 2018

A Moose in Baltimore?

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Jan 16, 2018, 8:00am EST

Royals Rumblings - News for January 16, 2018

The Orioles have discussed bringing in Mike Moustakas.

Third baseman Mike Moustakas remains on the market and he continues to make sense for the Orioles, who have discussed him internally and weighed the pros and cons.

They need a left-handed bat and Moustakas would play every day. They could find another one to at least platoon in right field.

The knock on Moustakas in those internal discussions centers on his career .305 on-base percentage, though he batted .284/.348/.470 in 147 games in 2015 and made his first All-Star team. It was below .300 in the previous three seasons. He doesn’t walk enough. But others are willing to overlook those shortcomings.

The Padres may have interest in Alcides Escobar.

Jordan Foote at Kings of Kauffman previews Rule 5 draftee Burch Smith.

Although it’s asking a lot, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to look past the injury history and imagine Burch Smith contributing in 2018. He likely won’t be pitching in the rotation, but coming out of the pen should suit him well. Steamer projects Smith to make 10 appearances this year, pitch 10 innings and post an ERA of 4.95. His K/9 is projected to sit at 8.00, right around where it sat in A+ Charlotte in 2017. 10 appearances for an MLB-ready talent like Smith seems low, so I’m taking the over. I’ll take the under on the 4.95 ERA, especially if Smith stays in the bullpen for the entirety of 2018. The projected 8.00 K/9 seems about right: I’ll take the even for that one.

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report previews the corner infielders in the system.

Ryan O’Hearn was probably one of the more disappointing Royals prospects in 2017. Playing in the PCL, I expected some big offensive numbers from him this past season, possibly propelling himself to a role on the major league team. That wasn’t the case though, as O’Hearn saw a decrease in both the power and plate discipline department, leading to ugly 99 wRC+, especially for a first baseman.

Scout’s opinions really vary on O’Hearn. Some think he’ll be a consistent 25 home run bat, while some think he’ll his long swing will be exposed at the next level. Hopefully this year was just an outlier, but he needs to seriously improve his mechanics at the plate.

Darin Watson at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City looks at Tony Solaita.

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report looks at which organizations are best at developing starting pitching.

Omar Infante is among the best 35-and-older minor league free agents available.

The Pirates trade Andrew McCutchen to the Giants.

The Nationals sign Howie Kendrick.

Curtis Granderson heads to Toronto.

Yadier Molina plans to retire after his contract expires in 2020.

The top starting rotations for 2018.

Are teams scared that J.D. Martinez’s performance could fall off a cliff?

All but five teams will now have expanded protective netting at their stadiums.

“Million Dollar Arm” Rinku Singh signs with the WWE Performance Center.

RIP Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey.