Royals Rumblings - News for February 28, 2019

Kyle Zimmer tells Jeffrey Flanagan that he was happy with his fastball velocity against the Giants yesterday.

Zimmer’s four-seam fastball also sat around 94 mph, which pleased him.

“Yeah, that’s great,” he said. “I’m happy with that. The last thing I want to do is overthrow. As your arm gets in better pitching shape, the velo will go up.”

Zimmer also continues to notice somewhat of a mystery pitch, which happened to be responsible for his one strikeout.

No, that’s not all made up. He actually threw in a game yesterday.

At the Athletic (feel free to subscribe at 25% off following this link, which also gives me a $10 Amazon credit), Rustin Dodd chronicles Alex Gordon’s struggles at third in 2010 that helped precipitate his move to left field:

Still, there’s part of the story you don’t know. You don’t know how humiliated Gordon felt; how he felt like a liability at third base; how his confidence was wrecked after injuries to his hip and thumb kept him off the field in 2009 and ’10.

“I didn’t want the ball hit my way almost,” Gordon says.

Gordon is well-known for his work ethic, dating back to his days as an All-American at the University of Nebraska. His diet is legendary — his body is sculpted and maintained — and his routines are detailed, his discipline strict. Yet something was activated inside him in the summer of 2010, he says, something that pushes him to this day. He took the humiliation and the helplessness, he says, and he converted it into fuel.

Flanagan also talks about Terrance Gore’s potential role with the big-league club this season:

Yost, though, was all in when general manager Dayton Moore broached the idea of bringing back Gore, who had been traded to the Cubs last summer before becoming a free agent in the fall. Yost loved the idea of having that speed on his bench.

“It was early in the offseason [when Moore called about Gore],” Yost said. “Dayton started talking about the direction the organization wanted to go. We both liked the action game. We like the speed game. [Gore] just fits with what we wanted to do. The more I thought about it, I thought about our bench, our versatility, it made sense to get Gore.

“I thought about what would help our bench. We didn’t need pinch-hitters. Are we going to defend for anyone? Maybe a little, but not really that much. So, who is going to help us win more games? It was blatantly obvious -- Terrance Gore. He can steal a game. It didn’t take long for me to figure out.”

Twinkie Town sat down with Max to preview the Royals’ 2019 season:

How was last season for you as a fan? What has been the general vibe around your team during the offseason, and how do you feel about the upcoming season?

Last year was rough, but not totally unexpected considering how the farm system had hollowed out. Years of poor drafts had left the Royals without any players to replace the core of the team that won a championship. But because of the way the team played down the stretch, relying on younger players, there is a lot more optimism out of the fan base than you might typically see after a 104-loss season. I think Royals fans are just looking for progress, primarily from the younger players, while still realizing that the team will likely be battling the Tigers for the cellar in the Central.

Bloody Disgusting issues its Horror Oscars. Guess who won Best Actor?

Spring training stuff:

At Radio Free Roscoe Royals Farm Report, paulyork10 (weird parents to give their kid a name with numbers in it) opines that you can’t steal first (or maybe you can) as pertains to Billy Hamilton. Also there, Drew Osborne profiles prospect Gabe Speier.

At KoK, Trevor Hooth tries to climb back from the ledge as news of other Trevor, Trevor Oaks, possibly having to miss the first half of the season due to a hip injury.

Mandy also cleaned up at Fangoria’s Chainsaw Awards.

It’s Nick Senzel’s world. We’re just living in it.

Craig Edwards suggests a way to end service time manipulation.

The Angels are talking about moving to Long Beach (which would be waaaaay better, IMO).

Dazed looks at the incomparable scores of Jóhann Jóhannsson, including his brilliant work on Mandy.

The Nationals had bullpen car driver tryouts that were pretty awesome.

Anderson .Paak announced a tour and the release of another LP in April, Ventura.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine has already gotten renewed for a seventh season, just six episodes into its newest season, the first airing on NBC after getting canceled by Fox last year.

Rotten Tomatoes rescued Captain Marvel from misogynistic review trolls.

Where did all the refugees from Vesuvius go?

How do we regard Bloodshot Records after the Lydia Loveless revelations?

Scientists are stunned by the discovery of just the second case of semi-identical twins.

The songs of the day start with “Same Drugs” by Chance the Rapper:

We move on to “Mandy Love Theme” from the Mandy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Jóhann Jóhannsson:

We take a trip back to “The Trapeze Swinger” by Iron & Wine:

Next stop, “Who Wants to Live Forever?” by Queen:

And we finish off with The Traveling Wilburys’ gem “End of the Line” from Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1.