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Royals Rumblings - News for July 17, 2018
Whit Merrifield is looking for a reset to the season this week.
“It’s been tough,” said Whit Merrifield, who extended his on-base streak to 16 games, of the first half. “Losing’s tough, and we’ve lost a lot, so it hasn’t been fun as far as all that goes. But we’ve got four days off, hopefully we can regroup, everyone can take a step back, reset, come back and have a good second half.”
Dan Szymborski at Fangraphs looks at players who won’t be traded, but should be, such as Royals All-Star Salvador Perez.
Yes, Perez is having a notably weak season, and we’ve all giggled a little about an All-Star with a .257 on-base percentage, but this in a way highlights just how many teams have significant weaknesses at catcher right now. Both ZiPS (0.9) and Steamer (1.1) have Perez finishing up with a one-WAR season, but with a team-friendly contract, Perez can likely fetch some interesting prospects, given that he’s young enough to be an excellent bounceback candidate. ZiPS thinks Perez will get back over league average in 2019.
Goodbye, Abraham Almonte.
The Royals DFA’d Abraham Almonte to make room for Rosell Herrera’s return from paternity leave. Almonte’s playing time had waned recently. Paulo Orlando stays on the 25-man roster.
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) July 16, 2018
The Royals have set their post-All-Star break rotation.
Danny Duffy wants help from fans in picking out his new walkout song.
At Baseball Prospectus Kansas City, Doc Riddle profiles prospect Andres Sotillet.
Former Royals trainer Mickey Cobb has a new book out.
A poll of players reveals who is considered most overrated, which managers they want to play for, and which cities they like visiting (Kansas City makes the list!)
Remember the All-Star skills competition?
Baseball is looking to collectibles to goose sagging attendance figures.
Bill Nye, celebrity softball player guy.
Poor minor league pay leads to players taking some odd jobs to make ends meet.
Amazon Prime day is threatened by strikes at warehouses in Europe.
AI could make detecting autism easier.
What motivates Twitch streamers who spend years broadcasting to no one?
Your song of the day is New Order with Age of Consent.