Royals Rumblings - News for October 5, 2020

Royals Rumblings - News for October 5, 2020

Jeffrey Flanagan writes about five questions facing the Royals this off-season.

4) Who is Royals’ future first baseman?

As the Royals wait for No. 12 prospect Nick Pratto’s bat to come around, they have tried to experiment with Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan McBroom at first base. Both O’Hearn and McBroom have shown that they have potential offensively. Defensively, though, they have their shortcomings. And Kansas City under Moore has been adamant that defense comes first. That is the main reason that Matheny moved Hunter Dozier to first base in September and kept him there for the rest of the season. Matheny believes Dozier has AL Gold Glove Award potential at that position, and there seems little doubt that Dozier will be at first base when the team arrives in Surprise, Ariz., in February.

Royals Assistant General Manager J.J. Picollo is listed as a candidate for the GM opening in Philadelphia.

A native of Cherry Hill, N.J., he interviewed with the Phillies in 2015 but wasn’t among the finalists for the job that went to Klentak. Picollo has spent 15 seasons in Kansas City, where he worked closely with former Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle. After overseeing the farm system, he moved into scouting and player development with the largely homegrown team that won the 2015 World Series.

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman would like to see Greg Holland return in 2021.

Although he’ll be in more demand this offseason than last, and will cost more than the $1.25 million (and possibly some incentive payments) he collected by making the 2020 major league roster, he won’t command a multi-year mega-deal entering his age 35 season. He’ll likely be affordable and Kansas City should have the inside track. Holland’s superb 2020 season proves he can still pitch, can still get high-leverage outs, and can still close. He clearly likes the Royals, they like him, and he’ll have the chance to play a vital role in another Royal transformation.

Clint Scoles at Royals Academy has some video of Erick Pena in Kansas City.

Brady Singer was named to Baseball America’s All-Rookie Team.

Leigh Oleszczak at KC Kingdom looks at what we learned about the Royals in 2020.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes may have the best-selling jersey....in baseball?

AL Central and NL Central teams flopped in the post-season.

Ranking potential World Series matchups.

The Tigers could consider A.J. Hinch or Alex Cora for their managerial opening.

The Cubs have a very uncertain future.

The Rangers are going to cut payroll this off-season.

C.C. Sabathia slams Carlos Correa for his statements on Astros’ critics.

Ben Lindbergh doesn’t like in-game interviews with players during playoff games.

The BBWAA votes to remove the name of Kenesaw Mountain Landis from the MVP award.

Two former Dodgers passed away this weekend - outfielder “Sweet” Lou Johnson died at the age of 86 and Ron Perranoski died at age 84.

At Dorktown, Jon Bois figures out that the key to not giving up home runs to Babe Ruth was to be a crummy pitcher.

Former big league pitcher Charlie Haeger is found dead after being on the run from the police after allegedly shooting his girlfriend.

Can we still go to Mars?

You may need to some tips to learn how to play Star Wars: Squadrons.

Rolling Stone asked musicians to contribute to a list of the greatest albums of all-time, so Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock submitted a bunch of fake album names.

Your song of the day is Bruce Springsteen with Ghosts.