Royals Rumblings - News for March 11, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for March 11, 2019

Jakob Junis felt good about his first spring outing.

“Four ups for the first time going out there against live hitters, I don’t think I’ve ever done that,” Junis said. “But I’m glad that they threw me back out there to push it a little bit. That’s the only way I’m going to get built up and be ready for opening day.

The Royals are pleased with Wily Peralta’s transition to the bullpen.

“It’s way different, so you have to come in and attack the strike zone,” Peralta said of his approach as a closer. “There’s no time to mess around because you know it’s one inning. You go all in, all that you have, trying to get three outs as quick as you can. You know probably the next day you’re going to be in the game too.”

Dave Skretta with Associated Press follows the comeback of Kyle Zimmer and Bubba Starling.

“We did lose faith in his ability to stay healthy,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore admitted. “It’s not personal. We love Kyle. Then he rededicated himself in a way that’s been well documented. We evaluated him and felt that he deserved an opportunity to be back on the 40-man roster.”

Patrick Brennan at Royals Farm Report thinks Martin Maldonado could be an improvement defensively over Salvador Perez.

The difference in framing is huge between the two. Perez is generally considered a terrible framer, severely hampering his value. Maldonado on the other hand is considerably above-average in the department, making him an underrated asset. This changes this gap in overall value, even with hitting and other defensive aspects considered (looking at WARP), as Maldonado very well might be the better player

Sean Thornton at Bleeding Royals Blue has his take on the catching situation.

David Lesky handicaps the Royals’ pitching staff.

The real odd man out here is Brian Flynn, who has been in and out of the Royals bullpen over the last few years, but has always been solid enough to help the staff. He’s sort of like McCarthy in that you want him to be your fifth or sixth best reliever, not your second or third. But his performance took a dive last season with his strikeouts dropping, his hits allowed jumping way up and his walks jumping as well. As a guy who can give you three or four innings when you need it, what he did in 2016 with a 4.03 FIP and 4.41 DRA, but the 6.59 DRA from last year portends a rough future for the almost 29-year old.

The Royals made some cuts over the weekend.

Sam Mellinger talks to Whit Merrifield and Alex Gordon about the labor issues in baseball.

“No, I believe in spending money,” he said. “We’re the talent. We’re the players. We generate a ton of money for this game and I believe it should be spent on us more than it is. It’s not the owners’ fault right now because it’s a broken system, but we’re looking forward to changing that soon.”.

Trevor Hooth at Kings of Kauffman writes that Brett Phillips needs to turn things around.

Leigh Oleszczak at KC Kingdom is anticipating a sophomore slump from Brad Keller.

Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. is out three weeks with an oblique injury.

For the sixth year in a row, many Dodgers fans won’t be able to see most games on TV.

Major League coaches now have to bring the ability to synthesize data.

Teams are shuttling players between the Majors and minors at record rates.

Bryce Harper has The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as his walk up music

The Rangers host a girls’ high school baseball tournament at their ballpark.

Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez get engaged.

The Chiefs release pass rusher Justin Houston.

Kansas State and Texas Tech win the Big 12 regular season title.

Two Ukrainian men are accused of using Facebook quizzes to scrape user data.

Why Americans don’t cheat on their taxes.

The oldest-known sea otter celebrates his 22nd birthday (h/t cmkeller).

Your song of the day is The Supremes with You Can’t Hurry Love.