Royals Rumblings - News for November 12, 2020

Royals Rumblings - News for November 12, 2020

Dayton Moore is mulling his offseason options, writes Jeffrey Flanagan.

“We’ve talked about our budget [more so] over a three-year period,” Moore said, “and what our projections will be, the experience level of our players. That naturally will keep our payroll down.

“I’m not really concerned with our payroll, but more about who the players are [that] we have going forward. Do they make sense for our team? I’m confident that if there’s a player out there that fits with this group and our timeline, we’ll be able to be aggressive and try to get them here in Kansas City.”

Other than Holland and perhaps Rosenthal, it wouldn’t appear the Royals, however, will be making any big splashes on the free-agent market.

Lynn worthy writes about how Moore contrasts his style with the pennant-winning Rays.

“They do an excellent job of developing and maintaining pitching,” Moore said. “They’re very transactional. They’re more transactional than we are. I’ve been criticized for that many times, that we stay for players a little too long. Sometimes it works out great. Sometimes it doesn’t. We’re one of the least transactional organizations in baseball.”

Moore seemed to indicate a potential change in this regard when he said, “I think as we go forward, I have to be more open-minded to being more transactional.”

FiveThirtyEight is doing a series on sports teams that beat the odds, and Neil Paine profiles the 2014-2015 Royals.

Though an impressive prospect pipeline and a surprising 86-76 finish in 2013 had raised expectations some, Kansas City was not viewed as a serious contender going into 2014. FanGraphs gave K.C. just a 2.7 percent chance of making the World Series, and the Vegas odds implied only a slightly better 4.7 percent probability. With few household names (did Alex Gordon, James Shields and Salvador Pérez count?) and no recent history of playoff success to call upon, there was little reason to think the Royals would suddenly turn into a powerhouse.

And yet, the Royals started out steady in 2014 and exploded in the second half of the season — going an MLB-best 52-27² from July 22 onward (including playoffs).

Alec Lewis at The Athletic talks to Royals pitching prospect Daniel Lynch.

Though he’s a perfectionist, constantly thinking about ways he can improve, his goal this offseason is to keep things simple. To realize how good he can be when he remains on top of the ball, when he’s throwing his changeup, and, most importantly, when he’s having fun and staying in the moment.

“I walked away from this year, like, ‘I’m ready,’” Lynch says. “I feel like I’m ready to go when they’re ready for me to be there.”

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report talks to 2020 undrafted free agent Kale Emshoff

Kale Emshoff was the prize of the UDFA class in 2020. I asked him about his decision to sign with Kansas City and he had this to say about the Royals:

“I chose KC because they have family values and a history of taking care of all players in the organization. Also the scout that recruited me Matt Price was a big reason as well. Developed a great relationship with him and that allowed me to feel comfortable with the organization even more.“

The Kansas City Star will abandon its iconic building, could that be the site of a downtown baseball stadium?

Royals executives Scott Sharp, Gene Watson, and JJ Picollo don’t appear to be among the finalists for the Angels GM job.

The former Burlington Royals will look to the community for a new name now that they are no longer affiliated with the Kansas City Royals.

Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer and Indians right-hander Shane Bieber are your 2020 Cy Young winners.

Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman accepted his Qualifying Offer from the Mets and Kevin Gausman accepts his from the Giants.

The Braves re-sign middle reliever Josh Tomlin to a one-year deal.

Will Mets fans finally get what they want with Steve Cohen running the team?

How the Alex Cora reunion in Boston will or won’t work.

Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs looks at which 2020 rule changes he’d like to see kept.

Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini is cancer-free.

MLB adds flexibility for minor league travel and start times.

Wichita State will reportedly part ways with Gregg Marshall and Thad Matta or Danny Manning could be a replacement.

Three men are banned from Yellowstone Park for trying to cook a chicken in a geyser.

Scientists think they have figured out that if you jump into a black hole, you will not be gone for good.

Do video gaming console upgrades matter much anymore?

Your song of the day is Metallica with Nothing Else Matters.