Royals Rumblings - News for September 26, 2018

Royals Rumblings - News for September 26, 2018

In his Mellinger Minutes, Sam waxes poetic about Adalberto Mondesi and predicts a slow off-season for the Royals.

Dayton Moore is not exactly Norman Dale, telling the ref, “My team is on the floor,” but I’m not expect many big changes.

Jason Hammel will be gone. Brandon Maurer and Alcides Escobar, probably. I assume they’ll try to fill any holes with minor free agent deals, but really, why would they make big moves?

This group is 27-34 since the All-Star break, which isn’t awesome, but is encouraging if you account for the run differential (-5) and who they’ve done it with (young players you’d expect to generally improve).

There’s a financial element to this, too. Like it or not, that’s part of this, and the team is unlikely to spend big the year after a significant financial loss with a roster that’s still a year or two away in the most optimistic view.

I’ll say this, too: it’s the right move.

Salvy’s next home run could break a record.

Presently, Perez is tied with Jim Thome as the only players in history to open the first seven seasons of their careers by increasing their home run total every season.

Perez has tied his career high of 27 home runs, set last season.

Since breaking into the big leagues in 2011, Perez’s home run totals are: 3, 11, 13, 17, 21, 22, 27 and 27.

”It just shows the maturation of him as a hitter,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s gotten smarter, knowing which pitches to attack. That happens to good power hitters, and he is a special talent.”

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City takes a look at next year’s payroll and the big contracts left.

Larger market teams can absorb those kinds of fiscal mistakes. Teams like the Royals, who will (and should) look to slash payroll during the lean times, cannot. If the Royals are truly looking to cut payroll to the levels suggested by Heyman to around $90 million, that would mean two players would be earning 40 percent of the entire budget. Widen the net to include Duffy and Perez and you have four players earning a whopping 69 percent of the payroll. That’s an untenable way to organize your finances.

This means the roster will be stacked with players with less than three years of experience. It wasn’t all that bad once they jettisoned their free agent roster fillers like Mike Moustakas and Lucas Duda and started playing the kids. Adalberto Mondesi has been a delight and Ryan O’Hearn some kind of pleasant dinger-hitting discovery. There are options in the outfield and we await the jettisoning of Alcides Escobar and replacing him with Nicky Lopez.

Drew Osborne at Royals Farm Report profiles minor league pitcher Jace Vines.

The Royals will pay for the season tickets of a fan that can hit a home run at the K.

Former Astros closer Ken Giles criticizes the culture in Houston.

Grant Brisbee writes that defensive indifference is dumb.

David Wright is saving the Mets $21 million by sorta retiring.

The Phillies have the worst defense in recent history.

Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez earns his U.S. citizenship.

Mike Scioscia wants to keep managing.

The Marlins have the worst attendance in a season since the 2004 Expos.

The domestic assault charge against Roberto Osuna is dropped.

A look at one of the worst MLB debuts ever, from Cardinals pitcher Mike Mayers.

Andrea Kremer and Hannah Storm will become the first all-female announcing team for an NFL game.

How the USC recruiting storyline on the HBO show Ballers is not believable.

The co-founders of Instagram resign, which could spell trouble for Facebook, the owner of the app.

The second installment of Netflix’s Making a Murderer will premiere next month.

Will Smith turns 50 this week, so here are all his movies, ranked.

Your song of the day is Blue Swede with Hooked on a Feeling.