Weekend Rumblings - News for January 19, 2019

Weekend Rumblings - News for January 19, 2019

David Lesky continues his Friday notes by looking at the Royals’ ZIPS projections,

I would probably take the over on all of Ryan O’Hearn’s stats. Dan makes the great point that while he was outstanding in the big leagues, he was meh at best in the minors the last two years, but I believe in what I saw in his short time. In the projections, OBP is a real problem. In real life, well yeah, probably there too. Though if O’Hearn is 75 percent of what he was at the end of the year and Gordon’s last few weeks are real and Mondesi can hit for a high enough average and Soler can stay healthy, they may not be approaching all-time lows. I guess that’s something.

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report looks at prospects #40-36 in the system.

Sebastian Rivero is a glove first catching prospect. He gives MJ Melendez a run for his money in the defensive category and some would argue that Rivero might be the best defensive prospect in the entire system. The one thing that Rivero hasn’t been able to do much of yet is hit, and the bat finally came around in 2018. Wilmington has never been a hitter friendly place to play, but if the bat continues to come around on Rivero, he will quickly find himself amongst the Royals top 20 prospects. At worst, he probably offers some Drew Butera-like value as a defensive minded backup that can play once or twice a week and not kill you offensively. He and Melendez are gonna be a ton of fun to watch play together moving forward.

MLB Pipeline also highlights Rivero as a top defender in the Royals’ farm system.

M.J. Melendez is very athletic for a catcher and has a chance to become a plus defender with an arm to match. Yet South Atlantic League managers rated Rivero, his teammate at Lexington last summer, the low Class A circuit’s best defensive backstop in a Baseball America survey last year. The Royals liken Rivero to a young Salvador Perez, and in addition to his physical ability, Rivero also draws raves for his leadership skills, intelligence and work ethic.

The Angels sign closer Cody Allen.

What do the Twins need to do to compete in the Central Division?

Will the Bryce Harper/Manny Machado sweepstakes ever end?

The Reds are making progress towards acquiring Sonny Gray.

Will Mariano Rivera become the first unanimous Hall of Fame selection in history?

The best players to never win MVP.

Sheryl Ring at Fangraphs tries to fix the arbitration system.

When is too much hitting instruction dangerous?

The AFC Championship tale of the tape.

Why Connecticut should drop down to FCS.

Britain’s 97-year old Prince Philip flipped his Land Rover, but was unharmed.

R Kelly and Sony part ways.

A summary of all the ways people are killed in the new John Wick trailer.

Your song of the day is Herbie Hancock with Cantaloupe Island.