Royals Rumblings - News for May 15, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for May 15, 2019

Ned Yost explains why he is putting Nicky Lopez second in the lineup.

“He’s a high on-base, high-contact guy,” Yost said. “It just seems like it’s logical. Are you putting a lot on him? Yeah, but so is freaking having social media following everywhere he goes too. So what’s the difference between that and me hitting him second. I think he can handle it. I’ve always done it. When Ryan Braun came up (with Milwaukee) I put him right in the three hole.”

Hey, it worked.

Sam Mellinger explains why the Royals changed their minds on calling Nicky Lopez up.

Moore’s aversion to open tanking is sometimes misinterpreted. He believes in development. But he believes the best way to develop is to win. In that way, Lopez benefits the Royals in both the short- and long-term. He is the future and the now.

When they talked after Saturday’s game, Yost said he wanted to bring up Lopez immediately. Moore needed to hear from Yost that Lopez would play every day. Yost needed to hear from Moore than Lopez would be promoted if he played every day. They secured buy-in from Merrifield.

Once they had all of that, they had their decision.

In his Mellinger Minutes, he also tempers expectations a bit.

Nicky Lopez is a good player. Nicky Lopez is an upgrade over Chris Owings. Nicky Lopez will be hard to strike out, he won’t make many mistakes, he’ll be dependable and sure-handed at second base. Nicky Lopez is part of the Royals’ best future.

Nicky Lopez is also 24 years old with a career .412 slugging percentage in the minor leagues.

This sort of thing happens all the time in sports. Backup quarterbacks and minor league prospects are the most popular people in losing organizations. I’m old enough to remember when a lot of you were stoked to see Tyler Palko.

Jeffrey Flanagan writes about how Nicky Lopez found out he was promoted.

Whit Merrifield will play both center and right field and he is ready.

“Honestly, I knew at some points it was going to happen with guys like Nicky and (Humberto Arteaga) that are down there that deserve to be up here at some point,” Merrifield said of his move. “They’re infielders. They’re not outfielders. I’ve got some experience in the outfield, so I knew this day was coming at some point.”

The Royals are not ruling out the post-season, writes Ken Rosenthal.

The Royals are talking internally about making a run at the second wild card, and the idea, at least according to the math, is not as crazy as it sounds — the team, while owning the worst record in the AL, faces just an eight-game deficit. More realistically, the Royals will just continue building, and possibly return to contention sooner than expected.

The latest mock draft still has the Royals selecting infielder Bobby Witt, Jr.

Chris Sale becomes the first pitcher to strike out 17 in a game with no more than seven innings pitched.

Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. hits his first Major League home run.

Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias is placed on leave after he is arrested for domestic violence.

The Yankees acquire former Royals slugger Kendrys Morales.

It is not clear what kind of year the Braves want to have.

Is this the Golden Age of home run robbery?

Teams that have had multiple high-round draft picks haven’t always done so well with them.

Former Yankees pitcher John Wetteland denies allegations he sexually abused a four-year old.

The New Orleans Pelicans will get the #1 pick in the NBA draft, so how will that affect the Anthony Davis saga.

The winners and losers from the best Premier League season in history.

San Francisco becomes the first city to ban facial recognition by government agencies.

NBCUniversal will be pulling content from Hulu for its own streaming service.

Just a reminder, Game of Thrones writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be developing the next Star Wars trilogy.

Your song of the day is Public Enemy with Can’t Truss It.