Weekend Rumblings - News for August 17, 2019

Weekend Rumblings - News for August 17, 2019

Jeffrey Flanagan writes about cutting ties with Billy Hamilton.

“It wasn’t really a challenge [with Hamilton],” Yost said. “It’s just that Billy had moved off the radar because Bubba was here and Dozier was here. But we’re going to play Phillips out there, just move everybody around, piece by piece.

“We gave Billy an opportunity. It didn’t work. Now we got a guy [in Phillips] we want to look at going forward.”

Brett Phillips talks about adjusting his swing.

Sam McDowell gives an update on Danny Duffy after he threw two innings of a simulated game.

“Good life to his pitches. We’ll see how feels tomorrow and make a decision on do we do another (simulated game) or do we send him on a rehab,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He just looks good. They ran him pretty good today. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow, but he looked good on the mound. Looked normal.”

Alec Lewis talks to Assistant GM J.J. Picollo about the farm system, including those struggling hitters in Wilmington.

They’ve had a tough year, there’s no doubt. They’re getting challenged at a stage in their careers when they probably weren’t expecting this type of challenge. What they’re learning is what adjustments do they have to make? Whether it’s chasing off-speed pitches out of the zone, which they’ve both gone through, and make that adjustment, or adjusting to fastballs up in the zone, they’ve gone through it. This year will prove to be a very good learning experience for them, as difficult as it may have been. The thing I’ve taken out of it that they’ve learned is that they have to be more open to change and adjustments based on how they’re performing right now....

It used to be Double-A was the biggest jump. Now I think going from rookie ball to A-ball is the big jump because of the information and youth of the player who doesn’t have thousands of at-bats to draw from.

Lee Judge writes about catcher’s wristbands.

Doc Riddle at Royals Farm Report continues his discussion with minor leaguer Chase Vallot.

Max Kepler is the home run king for European-born players.

Fernando Tatis, Jr. is out for the year.

What this season would look like without the crazy home run totals ($).

Alex Bregman is in the zone.

The Cubs’ road woes may be their undoing.

Four soon-to-be free agents whose stock is rising.

Let’s check in on Korea’s de-juiced baseballs.

In Venezuela, young players still have big dreams.

Welcome to the world of competitive wiffleball.

The best fantasy fooball team name puns for 2019.

Why is Halloween starting in the summer?

Olive Garden offers a lifetime pasta pass for $500.

Your song of the day is Miles Davis with Flamenco Sketches.