Royals Rumblings - News for December 20, 2019

At the Ringer, Zach Kram posits that if the Royals can’t be good, they may as well be fast:

It’s important to note, first, that this approach won’t actually produce more runs than a typical rebuilding team might. Rather, the 2019 Royals might collect the most futile trips to the plate of any team in years—at the moment, only one Royal, right-fielder Jorge Soler, projects as a better-than-average hitter.

The new additions will exacerbate this problem. Over the last five seasons, out of 164 MLB hitters who recorded at least 2,000 plate appearances, Hamilton has the worst wRC+, with a batting line 31 percent worse than average, and Owings has the third-worst wRC+, with a batting line 28 percent worse than average. (Second from the bottom, sandwiched between the two new Royals, is old K.C. friend Alcides Escobar.)

Gore, meanwhile, has displayed little evidence that he can hit MLB pitching, despite recording his first career hit off Max Scherzer last season. He managed just a .193/.283/.227 slash line in Triple-A in 2018 and hasn’t recorded an OPS better than .677 at any level since rookie ball in 2011.

At BP, Ginny Searle breaks down the Terrance Gore signing:

Giving Gore a real, extended chance in the majors (potentially on a platoon split with Billy Hamilton) will give Kansas City an opportunity see if he can do what he’s never really proven he can do before: Hit. If he can, the outfielder could elicit more of a return come next trade deadline than the cash considerations Kansas City got from the Cubs. As a bonus, Gore’s speed, and the myriad of other strong baserunners the Royals have on their roster, are a source of potential excitement for a Royals fanbase that might not otherwise have a lot to look forward to in 2019. Gore notwithstanding, the Royals have two of 2018’s 12 fastest qualified players in Hamilton (30.1 ft/s) and Adalberto Mondesi (29.9), with Whit Merrifield (29.0) not far behind and coming off a season where he led the majors in stolen bases. The AL record for stolen bases in a season is 345 by the 1976 Oakland Athletics, a mark that has seemed untouchable for some time — Cleveland led the AL in stolen bases in 2017 with 135 — but if any team is built to make a run at it, it’s Gore’s new club.

Kings of Kauffman’s Morgan Vogels does a minor-league signing round-up.

Could a team of non-tendered players this offseason outhit the Orioles (or Royals)?

Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation have agreed to a posting system that now just awaits Presidential approval.

Guess what made Gizmodo’s top ten list of best movies of the year?

Trey Hillman alert.

Sheryl Ring alerts us to the downside of the opener.

Addison Russell’s ex is speaking out, and it’s pretty horrifying.

Since you really need to know what Caruthers’s backstory was in Mandy, here’s an interview with Bill Duke talking a lot about the movie.

Are you holding onto your butts? So, uhhh, there are photos from the Deadwood movie. Also, it looks like Nic Pizzolatto helped out with the Deadwood movie, and David Milch helped out with the new season of True Detective.

Is anyone watching Amazon shows? [I’ll strongly recommend Forever and both seasons of the brilliant Patriot.]

Nic Cage talks about his new film, Between Worlds, which opens this weekend. Oh, he also talks about a little film called Mandy.

Bill Callahan joined Twitter and has a surprise planned for 12/24. This makes the song of the day selection easier. Today’s? “Riding for the Feeling” by Bill Callahan:

And another for good measure: “Rock Bottom Riser” from when he was still recording as Smog: