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Old friend Craig Brown laments the season so far, using Ned Yost’s “entertaining” quote as a jumping off point:
They’re not at the depths we saw 10 to 15 years ago where you would go to a Royals game expecting a carnival to break out. (Where have you gone Ken Harvey?) Don’t kid yourself, though. The potential is certainly there for a total breakdown in fundamentals. Especially if Dayton Moore deals off his few valuable pieces ahead of the trade deadline. So we may be looking at a different kind of entertaining in a few months. That in itself would be kind of…entertaining.
KCStar’s Maria Torres profiles the Royals starting pitching woes:
His team possessed the worst ERA in baseball. All three of his veteran starters, who are owed a combined $39 million this year, had each allowed nine runs in the last week. A shift had taken place: A bad month for his bullpen gave way to a bad May for the starting pitchers the Royals counted on to stabilize their rotation.
Bret Saberhagen and Tony Gonzalez will be part of the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend fundraiser along with Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Eric Stonestreet, Rob Riggle, and David Koechner on June 1st and 2nd.
The Yankees might be a little tired coming into town:
After their game against the Nationals was postponed Wednesday they had to catch a flight to Kansas City for a three-game series with the Royals.
The problem was there was a delay due to weather, a mechanical issue with the plane and a situation with flight regulations which forced New York’s flight to be canceled.
By the time all of this happened, every hotel was booked for the night in D.C. So the Yankees did what they had to do — they slept inside of the airport.
MLB.com’s Scott Merkin’s quarter season report on the Royals isn’t terribly negative, considering the circumstances:
Stock watch: This team wasn’t really designed with postseason intentions, but it shouldn’t be this bad, either, so let’s say its stock is down. This season is about the MLB Draft in June, flipping some veterans at the Trade Deadline to further restock the farm system, and getting some younger players (Brad Keller, Tim Hill, Jakob Junis, Jorge Soler, Cheslor Cuthbert) some valuable experience.
Here’s your daily link to what Rustin Dodd is churning out at The Athletic (subscription required):
“ERA is deceiving,” Ned Yost said. “So don’t throw that at me like, ‘His ERA is over 6.00’, like we ought to just light a bomb underneath his chair.” The Royals' rotation is struggling. The manager doesn't see reason to change course: https://t.co/UwhPObsH0q
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) May 17, 2018
CBS Sports’s R.J. Anderson looks at trade options for the Mariners after (BOOOO!) Robinson Cano was suspended for steroids.
Whit Merrifield
Yes, Whit Merrifield is in the early stages of his big-league career. Yes, he’s been an above-average hitter through his first 1,000-plus at-bats. Yes, the Royals have few bright spots. But they should consider trading Merrifield, in part because come next January he’ll be a 30-year-old second baseman. In other words, Merrifield may never have more trade value than he does at the moment -- and it’s unlikely he’ll be a productive player when the Royals field their next competitive team. The catch is that the Royals have no reason to just give away Merrifield, and the Mariners don’t have much left on their farm with which to make a compelling offer.
Sure, Max already posted this in the comments on Wednesday, but in case you missed it, here’s what a Royals fan on reddit*:
*Honestly, if it was any other player, I wouldn’t be doing this - Mariners fans have had a pretty rough go of it and besides Grass Creek, we have no quarrels. After all, Cano committed his sin when he was a hated Yankee.
A Rian Watt article at Fangraphs examines the seven times a pitcher has swung on a 3-0 count since 2011. The article is littered with mentions of Royals past and present like Ian Kennedy, Drew Butera, and Franklin Morales. It also touches on a number of notable non-Royals like longtime-nemesis-turned-victim Jon Lester, he-who-shall-not-be-named Madison Bumgarner, potential-free-agent-signee (negating the need for a James Shields trade) Anibal Sanchez, and guy-I-have-to-doubletake-that-he’s-not-Hiram Zach Davies.
On Wednesday, the lone remaining Expo, Bartolo Colon was hit by a line drive in his ample midsection. He was able to recover and get the out at first.
“It hit me more on the side than in the middle,” Colon said. “I have a lot of big belly, so I can take it.”
Last Friday, this exchange occurred in Rumblings:
So, when are we gonna start talking about the greatest game of all time, Chrono Trigger?
Last year - July 21st, in fact
“If you guessed our song of the day was from the best RPG of all time, you’d be right! I believe this is my first SNES entry and why not lead with Chrono Trigger.”
That said, we’ll probably revisit it at some point. When I have a busy week and don’t have a chance to do a full writeup for sotd, I’ll pick another track from a game I’ve already played
-Me
Guess what? It’s been a busy week at work so it’s time to revisit one of my favorite tracks from Chrono Trigger: Robo’s Theme.