Royals Rumblings - News for June 26, 2018

Royals Rumblings - News for June 26, 2018

Sam Mellinger sees Brad Keller as a rare bright spot this season.

Keller is a reminder of how baseball surprises, and of flimsy rebuilding plans that are heavy on specifics and light on flexibility. Last winter, the Diamondbacks did not believe him worthy of their 40-man roster. This spring, the Royals hoped they might have a serviceable relief pitcher.

Now, they see a young pitcher with more than enough velocity on two fastballs, a compounding slider, and a developing changeup and curveball.

”Exactly what I expected out of him,” manager Ned Yost said.

Yost weighs in on the possibility of signing Luke Heimlich.

“I don’t have thoughts on it. I mean, I believe in second chances, but in terms of what’s going on there, I don’t really have any idea,” Yost said. “But I think it’s important that you go through the process, like Dayton’s going through the process, where you get all your facts straight on exactly what’s going on (and) exactly what happened. Before you get all your facts straight, it’s hard to make a decision or give an educated opinion on anything without doing it.

“But I guarantee you this — Dayton is in the process of doing it, and there will be no stone unturned when he gets to his decision. So I’ve got all the confidence in the world that whatever he decides is going to be what I’m gonna back. But again, I believe strongly in second chances.”

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City is against the idea.

In the particular case of Heimlich, the crime is so heinous, and his remorse is so totally lacking that the answers will always be the same. Any potential win gained in the standings isn’t worth it. It’s just not.

There have been a number of reactions to the news that the Royals are exploring this avenue. They range from, “The guy can have a second chance” to “If the Royals sign him, I will never set foot in the stadium again.” As always, I cannot tell anyone how to be a fan. It’s an individual decision. And it’s complicated.

Rustin Dodd looks at balls hit by Whit Merrifield over the last two seasons and wonders what would have happened had they not been in Kauffman Stadium.

By my count, Merrifield has hit 36 or 37 balls that would have been homers had he played every game at Yankee Stadium, a number of which became outs while playing in Kansas City. (If you isolate the chart to just 2018, you’ll find eight balls that would have likely been homers.)

This seems interesting, right? But let’s be clear: Yankee Stadium is an extreme park for power hitters, with a short porch in right field. And no player will play 100 percent of its games in confines such as this.

Still, it’s easy enough to squint and see how a player like Merrifield — a right-handed hitter with some decent pop to the opposite field — could go from hitting 19 homers in a season to closer to 25 or 30, a significant jump across 162 games.

Jon Heyman reports that the many teams had interest in Kelvin Herrera.

The Indians, Braves, Dodgers and Angels were among many teams interested in Herrera. Bob Nightengale of USA Today mentioned the two LA teams.

The Brewers-Royals game on Wednesday will be exclusively on Facebook, and you can watch it in virtual reality.

Darin Watson at BP Kansas City wants the Royals to at least be entertaining.

Morgan Vogels at Kings of Kauffman has Richard Lovelady as a prospect to watch.

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report notes that Trevor Oaks is cruising in Omaha.

An Angels fan proposed to a Royals fan behind home plate during yesterday’s game.

A woman breaks into Danny Duffy’s home.

Graphic artist Todd Radom discusses those black Royals uniforms in the early 2000s.

Edwin Jackson ties a MLB record by playing for his 13th club, the Athletics.

Mike Trout may be having the best season ever.

How Jerry DiPoto wheeled and dealed the Mariners to first-half success.

The home run obsession has hit the college ranks as well.

Should Roberto Osuna be able to be traded while suspended for domestic violence?

FanRag is sold, and lays off pretty much everyone except Jon Heyman.

A weird FS1 segment during the World Cup shows us how the sweet house of murderous dictator Josef Stalin.

How hedge funds used private Brexit polls to make millions.

The Supreme Court won’t take up the case of Brendan Dassey of the Making a Murderer docu-series.

Is talking about Westworld more fun than watching Westworld?

Your song of the day is Ben Folds Five with Steven’s Last Night in Town.