Royals Rumblings - News for September 25, 2018

Royals Rumblings - News for September 25, 2018

Jeffrey Flanagan has a mailbox column, and looks at the rotation candidates for next year.

This is the fun part heading into 2019. General manager Dayton Moore always has pointed out that a team needs at least eight or nine viable rotation candidates heading into a season to guard against injury and natural attrition. And the Royals will have that, with more depth heading into Spring Training than they’ve had in recent years.

For argument’s sake, let’s say Danny Duffy, Brad Keller, Jakob Junis and Ian Kennedy are the front four. The fifth spot would be a battle among Heath Fillmyer, Jorge Lopez, Eric Skoglund, Glenn Sparkman, Trevor Oaks and Scott Barlow. And that doesn’t even include any veteran acquisitions or reclamation projects Moore and his scouting staff will add this offseason. Fillmyer, Lopez and Skoglund have proven they can pitch at this level.

Here’s how the rotation will shake out this final week.

Rustin Dodd presents the nine numbers that could shape the Royals’ future.

5.4. In the 50-year history of the Royals, just one shortstop has recorded a five-win season, according to Baseball Reference’s version of the WAR stat. That season belonged to Jay Bell, who posted 5.4 WAR while batting .291 with 21 homers in 1997. In fact, just three men have posted a four-win season and only seven have been worth three wins in a single season.

The list includes Freddie Patek (three times), Rey Sanchez (twice), Greg Gagne, Mike Aviles, Alcides Escobar, UL Washington and Bell. And now, an eighth name could join them.

Despite playing in just 68 games, Adalberto Mondesi entered Sunday having compiled 2.8 WAR. And that was before he finished 2-for-5 with a homer and a double in a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the final game of a four-game series.

Lee Judge writes the team is playing better because the youngsters can run.

If other teams are going to field shoddy defenders, the Royals can take advantage of that by forcing those defenders to play the parts of the game that give them trouble.

After a Royals front office executive heard someone say the team had been looking better in September, he asked: “Do you know why? Speed.”

If everybody else is trying to hit home runs and nobody else plays the speed game — stealing bases, bunting for hits, taking extra bases — opposing teams are less prepared to face it.

If everybody else zigs, you might want to zag.

Wesley Lantz at Royals Farm Report profiles prospect Donnie Dewees.

Royals’ first-round pick Brady Singer is in action in the Instructional League in Arizona.

2080 Baseball looks at the state of the Royals’ farm system.

The lack of a surefire top 50 overall prospect–and the fact most of the top players in the system are below Double-A–is what separates Kansas City’s system from the best in the game. That said, the Royals improved their farm system as much as any club in 2018, amassing a very deep group of high-upside talents in the lower rungs of the pipeline. Especially considering their draft position and sizable amateur bonus allotments (domestically and internationally) in 2019, things are looking up at the minor-league level in Kansas City.

Alan Eskew at Baseball America profiles the rise of Royals prospect Arnaldo Hernandez.

What’s at stake in the final week of the season.

How we could get a four-way tie in the National League.

Sheryl Ring at Fangraphs looks at the legality of tanking (with a nice shout out to Royals Review).

The San Francisco Giants may have a front office shuffle this winter.

What is it like to be a player who is perpetually traded?

Tim Dierkes at MLB Trade Rumors tries to calculate WAR.

A Comerica Park employee is arrested after video surfaces of him spitting in a pizza.

Tiger Woods didn’t need a win to validate his comeback, but he got one anyway.

Jon Gruden’s scouting system has led to an organizational divide with the Raiders.

Sirius XM’s purchase of Pandora is the latest sign that tech is taking over the music industry.

How long can the run on marijuana stocks last?

Maniac is the most Netflix-y Netflix show, but in a bad way.

Your song of the day is Chet Faker with Gold.