Weekend Rumblings - News for October 6, 2018

Weekend Rumblings - News for October 6, 2018

What does finishing strong in September mean for the Royals?

But does a September record play much of a bearing on the upcoming season?

“No,” Yost said. “What comes into play is the reflection of the year before and how you played in September.

“It’s hard for guys to make huge leaps and bounds during the season because they’re working and then they have to go out and compete (every day). During the winter, you can digest everything that you were trying to work on. You can visualize it. You can work on it in a non-stress, non-pressure situation. And it’s always been my experience that guys come back better the year after because of that.”

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City considers who will succeed Ned Yost as manager.

Personally, I think Pedro Grifol is the guy. I know a lot have speculated Dale Sveum and Vance Wilson, and I can’t argue with them, but I’ve heard whispers too often that Grifol is the next man in charge for me to shy away from making that prediction now (and on Twitter a few days ago, I guess I’m pretty transparent). And I think it’d be a good fit as he’s bilingual and mixes the analytics with the scouting extremely well. He seems to have a good relationship with Moore and the team obviously knows him well. Plus, it’s pretty clear the Royals, and maybe Yost specifically, have fought to keep him around even when he lost his job as hitting coach. Take it for what it’s worth. That’s my two cents.

Jeffrey Flanagan answers questions about the off-season.

5. Which other prospects might emerge in 2019? Certainly, players such as Hernandez, Griffin, Staumont, Schwindel, third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez and right-hander Trevor Oaks, among others, will get long looks come Spring Training. So will Lopez and Lovelady -- though, as mentioned, they don’t have to go on the 40-man roster presently, and they would really have to wow the Royals to force such a move. Add to that list those coming back from injury, such as third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert, center fielder Bubba Starling and pitchers Jesse Hahn and Kyle Zimmer.

Eric Skoglund wants a baby giraffe at the zoo to be named after him.

Greg Echlin remembers Marty Pattin, who passed away this week.

Erik Kratz has played for half the teams in baseball, but made his first post-season appearance yesterday and made it count.

What active player most deserves a ring?

Jeff Passan has his All-MLB team.

Ichiro Suzuki will be on the Mariners roster when they travel to Japan next spring.

Chris Correa, who hacked the Astros database, tells his story to Sports Illustrated.

How Mike Leach baited Texas into using a fake playbook before playing Oklahoma.

Why the college football to WWE pipeline continues to grow.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cracks down on improper use of commas.

300 new words are added to the Scrabble dictionary.

A Banksy painting self-destructs after selling for $1 million.

Your song of the day is Gene Ammons with Canadian Sunset.