Royals Rumblings - News for March 10, 2020

Royals Rumblings - News for March 10, 2020

Mike Matheny tells Lynn Worthy he is stretching out a lot of pitchers to potentially be the fifth starter and is keeping all options open.

“You break with a guy, or it could be two or could be three guys that are in the pen that could all be stretched,” Matheny said. “We’re not eliminating that idea we talked about earlier — have the guy come in early who matches up well with this particular front end of a lineup and bring in the stretched-out guys behind him. Call it opener. Call it whatever you want. I think that’s a real possibility for a team like ours right now.”

Worthy also writes about the return of Salvador Perez.

Where the medical staff put restrictions on him early either in terms of volume or barring him from certain activities until predetermined stages of his rehab, that’s faded away into a normal spring training for Perez.

”Sometimes they tell me, ‘Hey, you only throw 20 balls today. You only have 45 swings.’ Or whatever. Limitations,” Perez explained. “Now, I don’t have anything. That’s what I mean when I say regular player.”

Alec Lewis looks at the questions the Royals still need to answer, like is Adalberto Mondesi going to be ready for Opening Day?

Mondesi has yet to play a game during spring training; he’s still rehabbing after undergoing left shoulder surgery during the winter. His status remains the Royals’ most pressing question ahead of Opening Day against the White Sox on March 26. For now, staffers say he remains on track.

“We’re going to try to get him involved in all the team activities,” manager Mike Matheny said Sunday. “Still looking to start the game-speed stuff pretty soon.”

Jeffrey Flanagan writes that all signs point to Brad Keller starting the season opener.

“Obviously, Brad was our guy last year,” Matheny said. “And there would be nothing to lead us in a different direction at this point unless he has any setbacks.

Flanny also talks to Greg Holland about the pain of missing that Royals championship run.

“It was the weirdest feeling in the world to win a championship and be wearing a sling during it,” Holland said. “Seeing Wade [Davis] get that last out — I always envisioned me being that guy. It was a hard pill to swallow.”

Kris Bubic was reassigned to minor league camp.

Opening Day is not yet a sellout.

While most of the lower deck seats at Kauffman Stadium have been sold as of Monday morning, there are roughly 2,000 available seats in the upper deck.

”There are still tickets available,” Royals vice president of publicity Toby Cook said, “but we’ve had a really good run on opening day tickets in the last week.”

Clint Scoles at Royals Academy notes a few things about minor league rosters.

With the release of the minor league spring training rosters, there are always some interesting notes to be had. The move of Brady McConnell to the outfield appears to be a permanent one with him listed there. One other position switch they were looking at doesn’t seem to be quite as permanent as Jimmy Govern is listed with the infield group rather than the catchers where he was listed during instructs. I don’t think they’re done looking at it but for spring it appears to be on hold.

MLB Pipeline ranks the Royals as the 17th-best farm system.

Griffin Fabits catches up with Steve Physioc on his novel-writing career.

Tyler Dierking at Kings of Kauffman tries to counter the pessimism over the Royals.

Francisco Lindor and the Cleveland Indians have shelved contract talks.

The Rays are talking extension with outfielder Austin Meadows and pitcher Tyler Glasnow.

MLB issues a statement on the coronavirus and will keep media out of clubhouses for the time being.

How baseball has dealt with infectious diseases before.

The NPB in Japan will delay the start of their season over coronavirus concerns.

Will this Marlins rebuild be different than the others?

Rangers outfielder Willie Calhoun has a fractured jaw after taking a pitch to the face.

A Justin Verlander injury exposes a lack of depth in the Houston rotation.

The fantasy baseball draft prospects you need to know about this year.

Doug Glanville argues that PEDs hurt players more than sign-stealing.

Barry Bonds says MLB has given him a “death sentence” in baseball.

The NBA’s best assist combos in the past 20 years.

The weirdness of watching sports in empty stadiums.

Sketchy coronavirus survival guides are booming on Amazon.

Riot is trying to create the Monday Night Football of League of Legends.

All 22 Pixar movies, ranked.

Your song of the day is Echo and the Bunnymen with Lips Like Sugar.