Royals Rumblings - News for October 7, 2020

Marc Carig and old friend Andy McCullough rate each non-playoff team’s frustration level as their teams missed the postseason, at The Athletic:

You made progress!
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2. Kansas City Royals

General manager Dayton Moore has staked the fate of The Process 2.0 on a fleet of young pitchers, four of them drafted all within the first 40 picks of the 2018 draft. The group arrived on the big-league shores in 2020 in the form of Kris Bubic and Brady Singer. This was not necessarily by design, but as Kansas City dealt with injuries to their rotation, they decided to roll the dice with their young arms. Singer debuted on the first weekend of the season. Bubic arrived a week later. Both acquitted themselves well. They also set the stage for Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch to join the party in 2021. For a rebuilding club, getting a glance at the future in this 60-game sample feels like a victory.

Huge news in the years-long lawsuit fighting for better compensation for minor league players - they can proceed as a class. This means one lawsuit can cover many players, rather than each player having to foot the bill and fight the court battles of his own individual case.

Tickets for the league championships and World Series, at the Rangers’ new stadium, sold out quickly.

Old friend Zack Greinke is dealing with some arm soreness.

For Baseball America subscribers:

[content note: domestic violence] At The Athletic, a look at the domestic abuse allegations against free agent pitcher Sam Dyson:

“I want people to know … things are different behind closed doors.”

The Athletic has reviewed text messages, photos, medical documents and public records and conducted several interviews with friends and associates of the pair, which support Blackburn’s claims that Dyson routinely tried to assert control over her social interactions, work opportunities, and medical decisions and routinely belittled and demeaned her in front of family members and friends.

Additionally, Blackburn provided photos that she says show that Dyson physically harmed her and her cat. She said she once told a friend that she wanted her story out in case something happened to her.

“I don’t care anymore about embarrassment. Nothing anyone can say to me can hurt me,” Blackburn said. “Sam has already done enough damage to me.”

The story also talks about the resources MLB makes available to players and (in theory) their families for situations like this, but that information is evidently not easily accessible to the partners when they actually need it. [end content note]

Some speculation on the next Cleveland team name.

Babe Ruth’s called shot was perhaps confirmed by Lou Gehrig.

The NBA schedule starting later in the year might become the new normal.

Congrats to the Seattle Storm on their WNBA champsionship, and to MVP Breanna Stewart.

Alex Trebek helped with the NHL draft:

Eddie Van Halen died at age 65, of throat cancer.

Have any of these COVID-related scams been attempted against you?

I am obsessed with each of the additions to this TikTok user making up a song about fighting in the grocery store. (The link goes to the first in a thread of about ten videos. Enjoy them all, in order.)

This Ask a Manager letter is really alarming to me. What would make a person do this?? “My coworker told everyone we were married...we’re not even dating.”

It might be time for a new phonetic/spelling alphabet, apparently? (Related: the show “Archer” did a gag something being spelled “‘M’ as in ‘Mancy.’” I think of it every time I have to spell my name to people, which is daily.)

SOTD: Van Halen - Dance the Night Away.