Weekend Rumblings - News for December 15, 2018

Weekend Rumblings - News for December 15, 2018

The Royals will likely wait out the market for relievers.

The bullpen addition, as the Royals expected, will therefore have to come after the market presents itself in a clearer way.

“For where we are in the offseason right now and what we have remaining with our payroll, I’d be surprised if any player jumps out and takes a deal at that level at this point,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “Those types of players who take a lesser deal, usually it’s a little closer to spring training.”

Ned Yost discussed the lineup.

“But in terms of looking at the lineup, you’ve got Whit, who is a huge on-base percentage guy, led baseball in hits, in stolen bases. Mondi coming into his own last year. [Alex Gordon] really flourished in the three hole. Jorge Soler coming back, and he was really starting to take off before he broke his foot. And we’re going to have a lot of options, and we’ll sit down when we get to Spring Training and experiment with the lineup and see what is best. Not necessarily what works best, because it’s hard to tell in Spring Training, but what feels best, and go from there.”

David Lesky wonders if we might see someone else brought in at third base.

Speaking of third base, I don’t think the Royals will bring in any competition to their current group, especially with the signing of Owings, but it is a position where I could see it. They signed Cuthbert for the $800,000, but I think I mentioned before that if they cut him early enough, they only owe him about $133,000 and if they cut him in spring, they’d owe him $200,000, so they could move on. And Dozier does have options. I mentioned some non-tenders who they could look at either last week or the week before, but could they maybe look toward signing a veteran like they did last year with Mike Moustakas? I wouldn’t bet on it, but it’s certainly possible.

The Padres sign Ian Kinsler to a two-year deal.

The White Sox acquire Yonder Alonso from the Indians.

James McCann also goes to the White Sox.

The winners and losers from the Winter Meetings.

Selling Bryce Harper is not easy for Scott Boras.

Jerry Dipoto completed a three-team trade from his hospital bed.

Managers come out against a potential ban on defensive shifts.

Are teams not signing Bruce Maxwell because of his arrest or because he kneeled during the anthem?

Cardinals first-round pick Griffin Roberts is suspended for a drug of abuse.

Why gambling used to scare baseball but doesn’t anymore.

Being a ratings adjuster for the Madden video game is a pretty cool job.

An NBA trade dies because the teams were confused which player was involved.

Facebook leaked 6.8 million user photos to developers.

How to watch a comet that is coming unusually close to Earth this weekend.

The sweet and lovable doofuses on our favorite shows in 2018.

Your song of the day is John Coltrane with My Favorite Things.