Weekend Rumblings - News for April 27, 2019

Weekend Rumblings - News for April 27, 2019

The Royals put Lucas Duda on the injured list and call up Kelvin Gutierrez.

Duda is dealing with a lumbar strain, and his time on the injured list is retroactive to Wednesday. He’ll be eligible to be reinstated on May 4.

Gutierrez, 24, was batting .333 (22 for 66) with a double, two home runs and 12 walks in 18 games with the Storm Chasers. He was acquired last June as part of the trade that sent closer Kelvin Herrera to the Washington Nationals.

Lynn Worthy looks at how Alex Gordon is fighting off Father Time.

“Father Time is going to get us all, but if there is anybody who is going to outlast it a little longer — it’s Alex Gordon, because of what he puts into his body, how he prepares, he goes to bed at night and gets his sleep,” Moore said. “He’s committed to his wife. He’s committed to his kids. There’s no player that I’ve ever been around that I respect as much as Alex Gordon, for a lot of reasons. This guy is exactly what you want in your players.”

Drew Osborne at Royals Farm Report breaks down Danny Duffy’s rehab start in Northwest Arkansas.

David Lesky takes a deeper look at the pitching staff.

The Royals have an interesting issue on their hands. Their bullpen is terrible (though better lately, more on that shortly) and their rotation is okay, but not really good enough. The big problem is that the Royals appear to have a heck of a bullpen in their starting rotation. As a team, they allow a .221/.284/.387 line in their first time through an order. They’re better than the AL average on all three slash stats. The second time through, they go .258/.344/.446, which is actually pretty close to the league average, though that underscores a change in baseball in general, I think. But the third time through is the huge issue. The Royals have allowed a .317/.394/.618 line the third time through the order, which is WAY worse than the .256/.322/.467 line from the rest of the league.

Brad Keller teams up with Albert Pujols to combat human traffickin by announcing an August 17 event that includes a post-game concert with Lauryn Hill.

Baseball America has a Q&A with Royals prospect Seuly Matias.

Kauffman Stadium does pretty well in food safety inspections this year.

Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. doubles in his MLB debut.

Lorenzo Cain has another incredible home-run saving catch.

The White Sox designate Ervin Santana for assignment.

Max Scherzer becomes the third-fastest pitcher to reach 2,500 strikeouts.

Zack Greinke is swinging a hot bat.

The Giants are looking to trade for another outfielder.

Sinclair has a handshake agreement to buy Fox regional sports networks from Disney.

English soccer club Bolton won’t play the rest of the season because they haven’t been paid.

Sam Mellinger has a terrific piece with Cliff Illig of Sporting Kansas City and Cerner.

A live-action Rugrats movie is in the works, but why?

Celebrities are taking aim at critics in the media.

Everyone is trying to keep fans from spilling the beans on spoilers in Avengers: Endgame.

Your song of the day is Hank Mobley with Don’t Get Too Hip.