Royals Rumblings - News for March 1, 2018

Jeffrey Flanagan had a slew of smaller reports in a Spring Training update yesterday afternoon, not the least of which was on Nate Karns:

Right-hander Nathan Karns, who had thoracic outlet syndrome surgery last season, has looked great in side sessions, according to Yost.

”No setbacks, he’s ready to go,” Yost said. “I like what I’ve seen.”

Karns is expected to make his spring debut within the week.

In case you missed it:

Meet Dodd’s replacement at the Star on the Royals beat, Maria Torres.

At BP KC, Clint Scoles looks to 2018 for prospects needing to prove themselves to have a future in the organization. On Chase Vallot:

Chase Vallot – Is he ready for Double-A? That’s the question for Vallot following a 2017 season that saw him put up an 18% walk rate and his usual better than .200 ISO rate. Still, the defensive questions remain for the backstop with a league-worst 18% caught stealing rate. The front office also sent a signal that they may prefer younger catchers with the addition of Meibrys Viloria to the 40-man and the drafting of uber-athlete M.J. Melendez. Like others ahead of him, Vallot needs to establish the fact that he can stay healthy after averaging just 90 games per season in his three full seasons in the organization. That’s on top of showing a better hit tool and better receiving skills to go with the needed improvements in controlling the run game. He may have done all of this while playing against the best group of pitching that he has faced in his career with the possibility of him advancing to Double-A.

Also at BP KC, Craig Brown looks at how unbalanced the Royals’ handedness at the plate is.

Lifestyle Sports sat down for an interview with Royals prospect Brewer Hicklen.

RR’s Patrick Brennan gives us a snapshot glance at newest Royal prospect Domingo Peña—acquired yesterday from the Rangers for International Spending Pool money—over at Royals Farm Report.

Clinton Riddle at Minor League Ball ponders Scottish baseball with Edinburgh Giants General Manager Paul Convoy.

At BP, Russell Carleton tries to parse out how well left fielders cut off balls in the gap, preventing extra bases.

John Henry and the Red Sox are petitioning the City of Boston to change the name of Yawkey Way back to Jersey Street to try to distance the club from its previous owner’s racist past—the Red Sox owned by Tom Yawkey were the last team to integrate, holding out 12 years before doing so.

Travis Sawchik notes that the Rays have ditched their bad-fastball hitters.

David Laurila looks at how Angels’ Rule 5 pick Luke Bard used data to rejuvenate his career.

Jeff Franklin—creator of Full House and Hanging with Mr. Cooper—has been relieved of his Fuller House duties amid allegations of behavioral misconduct.

You can climb Denali, but you’ve got to start taking your feces with you.

The case for Phantom Thread deserving the Best Picture statuette is laid out by Benjamin Lee at The Guardian. [I agree.]

For all you stock market weirdos, Spotify is going public.

The new season of Archer sets itself up on Danger Island.

The Ringer looks at former punk Beto O’Rourke on the campaign trail and whether he stands a chance in hell at unseating Ted Cruz in the deeply red state of Texas..

It’s not new, but last September City Pages did an in-depth profile piece on the fantastic Charlie Parr that should be required reading.

Advance reviews of Atlanta: Robbin’ Season are glowing. The second season premieres tonight on FX.

The song of the day is “The Joke” by Brandi Carlile.