Royals Rumblings - News for January 17, 2018

Royals Rumblings - News for January 17, 2018

Padres owner Ron Fowler says the team will not budge on their offer to Eric Hosmer.

“I think we were pretty creative in the way we put a contract proposal together,” Fowler said in an interview on The Mighty 1090. “We like it. I don’t know if Mr. Boras likes it, but that’s probably another story.”

Sam Mellinger mulls whether the success of the Royals has made it tougher to swallow the Chiefs’ failures.

For two consecutive seasons, the Royals gave Kansas City memories that will last forever. That feeling is impossible to forget, and surely in some ways gives fans more craving for something beyond another playoff loss.

But even if the Wild Card Game never happened, even if Hosmer’s dash home never happened, even if the Royals were dismantled without any playoff success, I think we’d all be justifiably critical that the Chiefs are now five years into a buildup that’s topped out at excruciating playoff losses.

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City profiles Ian Kennedy.

You can’t dismiss the trends. Each one of the rates above are well above his career averages and have been for some time. It shouldn’t be surprising Kennedy’s rate of hard hit balls allowed has ballooned from 35.2 percent in 2015 to 36.4 percent in his first year in Kansas City to a career worst 41.7 percent last season. Maybe some of that can be explained away by injury. Some. As in just the tiniest amount. If there had been any indication that any of the above numbers were a speed bump on the road to league average, you could feel a little better. Instead, you’re left with a sinking feeling Kennedy’s best days are behind him.

Danny Duffy pleads guilty to DUI in his court hearing and gets probation.

The Royals officially add Gene Lamont to the front office.

Patrick Brennan at Royals Farm Report projects minor league rosters.

Dillon Gee is headed to Japan.

The Giants could be interested in Jarrod Dyson.

Josh Harrison may want out of Pittsburgh.

Christian Yelich definitely wants out of Miami.

The Tigers are open to trading Nicholas Castellanos.

Cardinals ownership does not anticipate any more major moves.

Jeff Passan has an excellent, although ominous piece about how free agency is broken and may need to be completely overhauled.

How the Pirates are forced to value players.

How did the MLB player’s union get into this mess?

ESPN’s David Schoenfield looks at the worst contracts in baseball.

Derek Jeter wants to get rid of the home run machine in Miami and he must be stopped.

The NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights are the best expansion team ever.

Hawaii’s missile alert system was prone to human error.

Facebook’s news feed fix actually helps fake news.

The actors who make bad movies for big paychecks.

Your song of the day is The Rolling Stones with Everything is Turning to Gold.