Royals Rumblings - News for July 17, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for July 17, 2019

Mike Montgomery told reporters he is excited about the opportunity in Kansas City.

“I’m excited for the new opportunity and obviously I wish things would have been a little bit different for me this year, but I kind look back and it’s definitely an emotional thing to think kind of (about) the last 3 1/2, 4 years here and obviously the World Series,” Montgomery told reporters. “I kind of grew up a lot here and definitely going to miss playing here in the city and with a lot of these guys. It’s going to take a little while to settle in.”

Clint Scoles at Royals Academy chimes in on the Montgomery trade.

Fans and myself would likely have preferred to go the prospect route here and considering Maldonado brought back international pool money and a Top 15 org prospect last year when he was hitting slightly worse, though the framing numbers this year weren’t quite as pretty....

Ultimately both trades and the Whit rumor of three major leaguers makes it feel like the front office believes this team is a little closer than they actually are to competing in the division and wildcard.

Dan Szymborski at Fangraphs questions the direction of the Royals.

The team certainly hasn’t acted like one that believes they’re rebuilding, most recently based on Dayton Moore’s assertion that it would be crazy to trade Whit Merrifield (2020 age: 31) and rumors that the Royals are insisting on three MLB-ready players in return. Would a rebuilding team hang onto players like Lucas Duda or Chris Owings in April instead of looking at Brian Goodwin? Or make little attempt to pursue interesting talent that may need a change of scenery, players like Good Austin Adams and A.J. Reed? The Royals have already added Montgomery, sight unseen, directly into the rotation, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they think that Montgomery’s 2020/2021 team control meshes nicely with the team’s quick bounceback to contention.

Jeffrey Flanagan writes that more trades could be coming

Much like Kennedy, the Royals would listen to offers on Soler. And one primary reason for that is there is a clause in the outfielder/designated hitter’s contract, as MLB.com reported last month, that will allow Soler to bypass his $4 million salary for 2020 and opt for arbitration this offseason. The Royals already are bracing for that scenario as Soler (25 home runs) likely will break Mike Moustakas’ franchise record for home runs (38) and be in line for a significant raise.

Adalberto Mondesi is ranked #48 in Kiley McDaniel’s top 50 trade value list.

If you take Mondesi’s 2018 and 2019 big league performance and give him the playing time of the top shortstops in baseball (which adds roughly 450 more PA), he’s either the fifth or sixth best shortstop in the game over that span, behind Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, and Trevor Story.

Mondesi had to leave the game after injuring his shoulder diving for a ball.

Whit Merrifield is the Royals’ winner of the Heart and Hustle Award.

The last nine champions have all made major mid-season trades.

Benches clear at the Yankees/Rays game last night.

Why isn’t Mookie Betts a household name?

Tim Dierks at MLB Trade Rumors has his free agent power rankings for this upcoming offseason.

How to fix baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.

Ejections are way up this year, but why?

Separating fact from fiction from the baseball film Eight Men Out.

Where every unsigned Baseball America top 500 draft prospect is going to college.

A six-year old coach has a temper tantrum on the field.

The 11 best rookies at NBA Summer League.

Big Baller Brand may be about done.

Missouri will push the start of the 2020 school year back to help tourism.

Computer pioneer Alan Turing will be on the new British 50 pound note.

Here is a full list of 2019 Emmy nominations.

Your song of the day is The Clash with Somebody Got Murdered.