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At BP KC, David Lesky looks at the Royals’ pair of Rule 5 picks this past year and the club’s history in the scrap heap draft:
The Royals have made it through an entire season carrying two pitchers who were picked in the Rule 5 draft. That, in itself, is a bit of an accomplishment, though not so much so for a team as bad as the Royals. But still, they made it and now they have team control of both those pitchers. Of course, one of the two had an excellent rookie campaign while the other is a possibility to be DFAed, in the process undoing a whole season of having to watch him pitch in various situations. You know I’m talking about Brad Keller and Burch Smith, who represent the wide spectrum of what the Rule 5 draft can bring.
Before I get to the pitchers, a quick note on the Rule 5 hitters, the Royals have selected. They’ve played nine and only four of them have accumulated 100 or more plate appearances. Jon Nunnally was probably the best with a .244/.357/.472 line and .280 TAv with 2.4 WARP. Tony Solaita was up there too, hitting .268/.361/.406 with a .288 TAv and 1.5 WARP. He also probably had the best career with Endy Chavez a close second.
But the pitchers are where it’s interesting.
Mandy’s surprise box office success has caused its distributor to revamp its release strategy.
Swear I'm not just here on #Royals coverage. Really really liked Yohanse Morel this morning. Bigger than listed 6'0/170, barely 18 y/o, some projection. FB 91-93 w sink, advanced CH 86-87, SL 82 (choked 'em). CH, FB, SL, CH to get Jaquez: pic.twitter.com/h5JJTe4QKu
— John T Eshleman (@2080_John) October 4, 2018
At the Athletic, Joe Posnanski shows that winning Manager of the Year can punch your ticket out of town pretty quickly.
Jeffrey Flanagan has the key FAQs about the Royals for this offseason
Would the rise of M.J. Melendez discourage the Royals from taking a catcher in next June's draft?
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) October 3, 2018
Not at all, writes @jjcoop36: https://t.co/LS4iWsgKll
At FanGraphs:
- Carson Cistulli notes that Major League Baseball has a new WAR Champ (also by the other measure).
- Jay Jaffe wrote about how the opener was heading to the postseason. That opener was former Royal Liam Hendriks. It didn’t go so well.
- Rian Watt let us all know that Lou Trivino wasn’t tired.
Mandy comes to DVD and Blu-ray just in time for Halloween.
Russell Carleton posits that Jacob deGrom might be underrated.
Rany waxes ecstatic about Patrick Mahomes II.
Mandy producer Elijah Wood argues that Nicolas Cage is back in Oscar-worthy form.
The song of the day is “Starless” by King Crimson: