Royals Rumblings - News for May 16, 2018

Royals Rumblings - News for May 16, 2018

Jorge Soler is dealing with an injured rib.

Royals manager Ned Yost said Soler sustained a “dislocated rib” on his right side after charging in for a fly ball in Monday’s game against the Rays and then stopping suddenly and leaping to make the catch.

”That play just kind of dislocated a rib,” Yost said. “It’s something that will snap back into place, like what a chiropractor would do.”

The players are frustrated.

Lee Judge writes about when players “snap” and take out their frustrations.

Broken doors and broken chairs are pretty common. One player had a habit of ripping off his jersey before undoing the buttons. Another guy went into the showers and set his hat and shoes on fire. Another one gathered up all the cans of beer in the clubhouse, took them down to the indoor batting cage and hit them off a batting tee.

Sam Mellinger isn’t super optimistic about the near future for the Royals quite yet.

I’m not going to lie to you. The immediate future does not look good. We can talk about Bonifacio and Staumont and Lovelady and Nick Pratto and Khalil Lee and as bad as the big-league team is, I’m guessing we’ll do a lot of that this summer and beyond

Some of them may turn into productive big-leaguers, too. Maybe there’s a star in that group, who knows, maybe there’s two.

But the Royals will be judged against the other 29, and most of those other 29 have more talent in their farm system than the Royals have in theirs. Keep that in mind....

This is going to take a while, is what I’m saying. If you’re asking whether it will take, I would say Moore and his assistants — it’s pretty remarkable how little turnover the front office has had — have earned the benefit of the doubt.

Rany Jazayerli says not to give up on Adalberto Mondesi quite yet.

On the surface, Mondesi’s future in Kansas City looks tenuous at best. But I’m here to tell you that on the contrary, there are many reasons to think that Mondesi still has a long and productive career ahead of him with the Royals.

For one thing, Mondesi’s colossal struggles in the major leagues obscure the fact that he actually hit better at each rung of the minor leagues. Mondesi was always one of the youngest players at every level, and a player’s natural improvement while still in his teens can overwhelm the higher level of competition that he is facing.

Fangraphs has a mock draft for the first round and have the Royals taking prep third baseman Jordan Groshans.

The Royals have the biggest pool in the draft this year and have had top scouts at almost every high-profile matchup this year because they can conceivably get all but a half-dozen players to this pick if they really want to. They’re also tied to lots of the same players as Tampa Bay due to similar preferences and bonus-pool size. Given the significance of the draft, GM Dayton Moore is out seeing players, including Rolison and Weathers last week. The Royals have also been tied to Adams, Groshans, Meadows, Rocker, and Wilcox and will likely try to get one of those players to their next pick.

Robinson Cano is suspended 80 games for a banned substance.

Arizona’s A.J. Pollock could miss 4-8 weeks with a thumb injury.

Red Sox reliever Carson Smith seriously injured himself after throwing his glove down in disgust.

The Indians have bullpen issues.

Jeff Passan thinks gambling can make baseball America’s pastime again.

Do World Series losers get hangovers?

A look at the physics of fielding grounders.

Is it up to older fans to save baseball?

Two junior college baseball teams are forced to forfeit a post-season tournament after a bench-clearing brawl.

The Phoenix Suns win the NBA lottery and will get the #1 pick.

What states are most likely to legalize sports betting first?

The internet can’t decide if this robot is saying “Laurel” or “Yanny”. Here is the science behind why.

American cryptocurrency trading platforms will be getting more competition.

Dave Chappelle and Jon Stewart are teaming up for a stand up comedy tour.

Your song of the day is Queen with I Want to Break Free.