Royals Rumblings - News for July 19, 2018

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Flanny looks at how the Royals might jumpstart the rebuild at the coming deadline:

What they are seeking

Prospects, prospects, prospects. The Royals’ Minor League system took a hit after the 2015 trades and needs to be restocked.

What they have to offer

Moustakas will almost certainly be dealt. The veteran third baseman signed a one-year deal in March, and with 19 home runs, he should be an attractive fit for a contender hoping to deepen its batting order. First baseman Lucas Duda could be a nice left-handed bat off the bench for a contender. Kansas City also would like to move right-hander Jason Hammel, now as a bullpen piece -- he has been impressive in his two relief outings since being demoted from the rotation and is hitting 94-95 mph with his four-seamer. Right-hander Wily Peralta, now the unofficial closer, could be of some help to a contender as well. Perhaps the most attractive assets are utility man Whit Merrifield and left-hander Danny Duffy because of club control on both for years to come.

C’mon, Flanny. The system took a hit after the 2015 trades? Striking out for nearly a decade in the draft had nothing to do with it needing to be restocked?

At the Athletic (feel free to subscribe via this link in which I get referral bucks), Rustin Dodd talks of the change to Lorenzo Cain’s game this season:

“They asked me to be a leadoff guy, hit at the top of the order,” Cain said. “I just focused my game on being that guy to get on base for us.”

Cain said he has made no drastic changes to his approach or mechanics since leaving the Royals. Yet the growth remains extreme. In parts of seven years in Kansas City, he never recorded a walk rate higher than 8 percent until his last season. In his first year back with the Brewers, the organization that drafted him, he has walked in 13.4 percent of plate appearances, nearly double his career average.

Two Royals prospects are named on BP’s midseason top 50 dynasty prospects. So is Esteury Ruiz.

MLB.com’s Jason Wolf breaks down Salvador Pérez’s All-Star Game appearance.

Jeff Sullivan wonders what fans think of their teams’ managers. He also looks at the worst called strike of the first half. And he analyzes the completed Manny Machado deal to the Dodgers.

Craig Edwards investigates whether the baseball is dead.

Eric Longenhagen looks at the resurgence of black players in the Futures Game.

The Grand Prairie AirHogs are employing much of the Chinese National Baseball team.

The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya looks at how Jaime Barria almost wasn’t an Angel in looking at his background.

Also at the Athletic, Jayson Stark looks at how MLB’s labor issues loomed over the All-Star Game. Sean Doolittle’s quote is pretty telling as to how the players feel:

“I think it’s really concerning,” said Nationals closer Sean Doolittle. “You know, free agency used to be something guys looked forward to. You put all these years of work into your craft, and you finally get to test the open market and see if you can maximize your value. But there were a lot of really, really head-scratching things (last winter) — guys getting very similar, almost the exact same offers. Different teams (offering) one-year deals. And they would get these offers in the same week, like back-to-back-to-back. There was a lot of that going on. …

“I understand that to the public, it looks like you’re whining and complaining when you’re still getting seven-figure offers,” Doolittle conceded. “But in any job, if that happened to you in your field, that would be really, really concerning. So it’s something that we’re really paying close attention to.”

London has a new Jeff Goldblum statue, making everyone wonder when their city will also get one.

Looks like California won’t be trisected anytime soon.

The Queen looks to have been brooch trolling.

Chance the Rapper unveiled four new songs. Which brings us to the song of the day, I suppose. “Wala Cam” by Chance from whatever the hell this ends up being on:

Hell, here’s “65th & Ingleside” too: