Royals Rumblings - News for February 7, 2019

So, to remind the handful of you who might care, I’ll be on Jeopardy tomorrow. Check your local listings should you be so inclined.

At the Athletic (subscription required—if you’re signing up, why not use this link and give me Amabucks while saving yourself 25%?), Rustin Dodd goes to the tried and true content generator, the mailbag:

The Royals are going to sign a few bullpen pieces before or during spring training. I’ve said that for months, of course, and the club hasn’t done much yet. But general manager Dayton Moore hinted at some moves last week, and the club has yet to load up on non-roster invitees. Moore is on record saying he checks MLB Trade Rumors from time to time, using it as an aggregation site. So perhaps we can look at the list of available pitchers to get a decent idea.

Keith Law ranks the top prospects in the Royals system (also behind a paywall).

Sleeper: Isbel wasn’t as hyped as the two Florida arms, and his summer was overshadowed by Daniel Lynch deciding to make every team that passed on him (which they almost all did) look bad for doing so, but Isbel’s skill set seems so close to that of an above-average regular that maybe all he has to do is prove it this year in high-A Wilmington.

At Baseball Prospectus (subscription required), Bret Sayre and Ben Carsley dropped their Top 101 Dynasty rankings. Khalil Lee and Seuly Matias cracked the list, which focuses on their fantasy utility.

72. Seuly Matias, OF, Kansas City Royals (Age: 20, Previous Rank: 85)

Potential Earnings: $20-25

Risk Factor: High

Fantasy Overview: Three-category contributor; Impact potential in HR, RBI

Fantasy Impact ETA: 2021

Realistic Ceiling: Basically Khris Davis

Realistic Floor: A really good Double-A slugger

Also behind the paywall at BP, they throw Adalberto Mondesí on their 10-90 scale for fantasy purposes.

At Royals Farm Report, Drew Osborne notes that the Royals have been linked to J2 signee Erick Peña in their never-ending quest to have all the Ericks. He also writes up four minor league hurlers to keep an eye on this year. Also at RFR, Marcus Meade wonders whether the best Royals bullpen will be in Omaha in 2019.

Daniel Lynch is cited by Jim Callis as a guy whose stuff “just really ticked up.”

The Fox RSN sell-off continues to go badly, ultimately afffecting FSKC.

Jeffrey Flanagan has his Spring Training primer up.

At BP, Shakeia Taylor writes on the century-old link between jazz and baseball.

At FanGraphs:

• Jeff Sullivan talks about the proposed changes to baseball. There be polls.
• Jay Jaffe explores the possibilities of an extension of Nolan Arenado after his record setting arbitration contract with the Rockies last week.

Screen Rant’s got a list of ten movies more messed up than Velvet Buzzsaw. You’ll love #1, and #6 is pretty great too.

A David Fincher-helmed World War Z sequel is officially dead.

So Virginia state dems are a complete disaster.

Hold onto yer butts. Tommy Wiseau might be making a big shark movie called Big Shark.

When the US interned Italians in Montana in WWII, they rioted over olive oil.

Sturgill Simpson is in the upcoming film Queen & Slim.

The song of the day is “John Taylor’s Month Away” by King Creosote & Jon Hopkins from the incredible album Diamond Mine: