Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for January 29, 2019

Let’s see if all these steals will work!

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Jan 29, 2019, 8:00am EST

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Royals Rumblings - News for January 29, 2019

Ned Yost is pretty optimistic about the direction of the team.

“Speed and defense are really important for us at Kauffman Stadium,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “We’re going to take advantage of that. We like that style of play and our fans like that style of play. Plus it gives us an advantage, because a lot of teams aren’t built that way.”

Eno Sarris looks at whether young hitters with poor plate discipline can improve, and asks who has the best chance of succeeding?

“If I had to pick one. I’d go with Mondesi if only because his development path was so weirdly aggressive that I think he has the best shot to make further adjustments now that he’s had a platform of major-league success,” said Jeffrey Paternostro of Baseball Prospectus. “He’s also the youngest, and that might matter here more than in other areas of development.”

Heath Cummings at CBS Sports looks at the stolen base market for fantasy baseball.

Hamilton will be the starting center fielder for the Royals, who figure to be one of the most aggressive teams in 2019. They won’t win often, but every indication is they’ll run often. In the second half of 2018 they led the majors with 74 stolen bases (only two teams were within 20 of that mark). With a green light, Hamilton only needs a slight bounceback from last year’s .236 average to be a top-100 player in Roto. In 2017 he hit .247 and was the 69th best hitter in the format.

Morgan Vogels at Kings of Kauffman looks at Rule 5 pick Sam McWilliams.

Joel Wagler at KC Kingdom wants Ryan O’Hearn to build on his success last year.

Former Royals pitcher Jeff Suppan will be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

The Rangers sign reliever Shawn Kelley.

The Reds have been the most ambitious team this off-season, will it work?

MLB will celebrate Jackie Robinson’s 100th birthday all year.

The Caribbean Series moves from Venezuela to Panama due to political strife.

The Pirates are being awfully quiet.

Former Giants owner Peter Magowan dies.

Anthony Davis wants out of New Orleans.

The fight over the origin of the first ironman triathlon.

Muscle memory is real, but it’s probably not what you think.