Royals Rumblings - News for January 23, 2018

Royals Rumblings - News for January 23, 2018

Joe Posnanski writes about how Yordano Ventura left his mark.

Royals scout Rene Francisco liked the way that Ventura’s arm worked. This is scout-speak for that difficult-to-find pitching rhythm that some gifted pitchers simply have. The ball seemed to jump out of Ventura’s hand. Francisco recalls Ventura breaking 90 mph with the fastball even then, though others doubt that he was throwing that hard. Either way, he was a Royals kind of player -- too small, too scrawny, too many things had to go right for other teams to have much interest.

They signed him for peanuts and, strangely for the Royals, things started going right. Ventura grew. He gained weight. And his fastball took off. After just a couple of years, he had the club’s attention.

”We’ve got a kid down in the Minors,” I remember Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo telling me in 2011, “and he’s just 20, so we don’t know what he can be yet. But he’s throwing 100 mph. He looks like a young Pedro Martinez.”

Yordano Ventura’s teammates remember their friend.

Why is there no talk in this market about Melky Cabrera?

As I stated early on, Cabrera is not a power hitter. However, given his specific skill set he does not have to be. Cabrera is a classic table setter, someone you bat second or third to move runners over and set things up for the home-run hitters. That is the role he has played the last three years with the White Sox – imagine what his line would look like if he did this for a contending team with some actual talent hitting behind him?

Jordan Foote at Kings of Kauffman previews Kelvin Herrera’s season.

One of many players looking to either resurrect their career or bounce back from a rough 2017 campaign, Kelvin Herrera is in complete control of how his 2018 season goes. Looking at his career numbers, it’s not out of the question to expect him to somewhat resemble his old self this season. Picking him to be an All-Star isn’t a safe bet, but expect things to go a lot more smoothly in 2018 than they did in 2017 for the seventh-year reliever. If they don’t, he very well could be on the move when July rolls around.

Ben Almquist at KC Kingdom argues the Royals need to do something.

Royals director of scouting Gene Watson is honored with a Legends in Scouting award.

Baseball America rolled out their Top 100 prospect list, with zero Royals on the list.

The Giants sign Austin Jackson to a two-year deal.

The Brewers are making a play for Yu Darvish.

How the MLBPA is failing its players.

The Mets have been operating as a small market club for a decade.

Patrick Dubuque at Baseball Prospectus looks at the problems with winning and tanking.

Players don’t automatically turn terrible when they hit 30.

Craig Calcaterra handles some mock arbitration cases.

Which players had the best careers after switching teams in their 30s?

Why a pitch clock won’t fix baseball’s problems.

Cavs players think Kevin Love faked an illness.

Three members of the USA Gymnastics board resign over the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal.

China bans hip-hop culture and tattoos from television.

Amazon Go, a cashierless convenience store, debuts in Seattle.

Everything we know about the timeline for Star Trek’s mirror universe.

Your song of the day is Big Head Todd and the Monsters with Broken Hearted Savior.