Royals Rumblings - News for May 8, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for May 8, 2019

Rustin Dodd of The Athletic writes about Glenn Sparkman’s road to the big leagues.

For now, he will return to the bullpen, utilizing his 94-mph fastball and curveball in short bursts. The Royals are hopeful his strong start represents a useful lesson.

“This stuff ain’t rocket science,” manager Ned Yost said. “It’s execution. Good stuff, and you execute with it. That’s what he did in the game last time, and hopefully that’s what he’s going to continue to do.”

Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star also writes about Sparkman.

Worthy writes about the command issues of Wily Peralta.

Peralta identified the same issue when talking about his recent ups and downs. Peralta said he’s not making any mechanical changes. It’s as simple as him pitching off the plate and missing early in counts and falling behind hitters.

“Pretty much all the hits and runs that I’ve given up, I fell behind in the count and just worked trying to get back to even,” Peralta said. “But I’ve already thrown five or six pitches to hitters, so it’s not good. I feel like I just have to go out there and get ahead right away.

In his Mellinger Minutes, Sam writes about the future of Danny Duffy.

Some around the league have questioned his commitment, wondering if the contract diminished some of the edge that seemed to fuel him at his best. He spent the first four weeks of this season on the injured list.

Duffy is in a different part of his career now. Only Alex Gordon has been with the team longer (Sal Perez debuted three months after Duffy). He came into the league full of potential, with a mid-90s fastball and wicked breaking stuff. Back then, his curveball dazzled. Now he throws more sliders. He and the windup have an on-again, off-again relationship.

But if the ceiling is no longer quite what some of us envisioned, he is still an important part of this team going forward. He is owed about $40 million through 2021. The Royals would prefer he remain in the rotation. Talents like his get every chance. But he also might make for an effective late-inning reliever. It’s a nice backup plan, anyway.

Dave Parker, Dave Stewart, Eric Davis, and Fred McGriff will be honored by the Negro League Baseball Museum in this year’s “Hall of Game” class.

Leigh Oleszczak of KC Kingdom thinks we could see Bubba Starling in Kansas City this year.

Broadcaster Ron Darling reveals he has thyroid cancer.

Why the Yankees very nearly traded Mariano Rivera to the Tigers.

Raisel Iglesias says the Reds are using him wrong.

Dallas Keuchel does not plan on settling soon.

Free agent James Shields is starting to draw some interest.

The Mariners may have a historically bad defense.

Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com looks at who will be the top picks in this June’s draft.

Teams are looking at Mets first baseman Dominic Smith on the trade market.

MLB’s gamble on integrity fees is getting pushback from gaming operators.

A Silicon Valley startup has raised $2.5 million to sell....water in aluminum cans.

“OK” gets the OK from Scrabble to be one of the new words added to the game dictionary.

Pornhub is very interesting in purchasing Tumblr.

Your song of the day is Marvin Gaye with Ain’t That Peculiar.