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Jeffrey Flanagan reports that the bullpen decisions will come down to the wire:
Yost also said the Royals still haven’t decided on the final bullpen spots, where it would appear left-handers Brian Flynn, Tim Hill, and Eric Skoglund and right-handers Wily Peralta and Rule 5 acqusition Burch Smith are competing for three open spots.
Those seemingly locked into bullpen roster spots are Kelvin Herrera, Brandon Maurer, Justin Grimm, Blaine Boyer and Brad Keller.
Flanagan also reports that the Royals will have Alex Gordon and Jorge Soler under the microscope this season. Jeffy Jeff also goes into how this season will be one in which Moore and the Royals will be evaluating long-term players for the future.
“I was ashamed.”
— The Athletic Ink (@TheAthleticInk) March 28, 2018
How Danny Duffy navigated the aftermath of his DUI and the longest offseason of his career, from @rustindodd. https://t.co/ggrTDmQQ4k
Over at BP, former RR overlord Craig Brown and his great-grandfather David Brown preview the Royals season that is upon us today:
Craig: The potential to beat PECOTA (again) is there, but with the additions of Jay, Duda, and Moustakas on one-year contracts, if they do exceed projections in the early part of the season, they would be positioned to be trade fodder at the deadline. That would bring up some of the kids from the minors and the win total could be knocked back down again. It’s a vicious cycle the Royals find themselves in at the moment. General manager Dayton Moore finds the idea of tanking to be abhorrent. And really, if so many other teams are doing it, where’s the market inefficiency?
Last year, Moore refused to sell and actually added pieces for a stretch run. (The correct move at the time, in my opinion.) However, that led them to becoming somewhat boxed in this winter. They needed to add pieces like Jay and Duda because there really isn’t anyone in the minors knocking on the door at those positions at the moment. Will those guys be around in five months? I would bet against it. The Royals have an opportunity to make noise in the draft this summer and would do well to supplement with some other talent that could be acquired via trade. Not that Jay or Duda or really any other Royals who could find themselves on the trade block would bring back a premium prospect. It’s about building the entire farm system (again) at this point.
Darin Watson breaks down the top five moments in franchise history over at BP KC:
4. SEPTEMBER 30, 1992: BRETT JOINS 3,000 HIT CLUB
Apologies to Gaylord Perry, Harmon Killebrew, and Orlando Cepeda, but let’s be honest: George Brett is the one true Hall of Fame player the Royals have had. This may change when Carlos Beltran makes the Hall, depending on how you feel about someone who only spent a third of his career here, but I do feel fairly certain that Brett will be the only Hall of Fame player who plays his entire career here. Of course, Brett was already going to the Hall, but on this pleasant southern California night, he cemented that fact with four base hits. The last one was the magic number 3,000, and it meant the Royals—and Kansas City—finally had their baseball immortal.
Salvador Perez’s knee? Not so hot. Out 4-6 weeks with an MCL tear. Bring on the Cam Boy.
Kings of Kauffman’s staff makes their predictions for the Royals’ season.
The Ringer’s preseason power rankings dropped. The Royals are obviously atop the list.
Jeff Sullivan looks at what happens when college teams face major-league clubs in exhibition.
A’s prospect A.J. Puk is out for the year with Tommy John surgery.
The Dodgers got to cancel their Tuesday exhibition game due to a sewage lake forming in foul (two meanings here) territory.
Tom Waits’s Asylum era releases are being re-released in remastered versions on Vinyl over the next two months.
Donald Glover denied not having time to work on the Deadpool animated series and threw bombs on Twitter.
Novelist Philip Kerr has shuffled off this mortal coil.
John Mulaney’s new special, Kid Gorgeous, drops on Netflix in May.
Here are tips for visiting Petrified Forest National Park, which I went to yesterday.
The song of the day is “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter: