Royals Rumblings - News for March 18, 2020

The Royals announced they will take part in the MLB-wide initiative to pay up to $30 million to cover seasonal gameday staff:

“These are unprecedented, extraordinary times, and we are squarely focused on the well-being of our Royals family,” said John Sherman, Owner and CEO of the Royals.

“We want to insure that our seasonal staff who bring their positive energy to Kauffman Stadium will feel the support of our organization at their backs. We have chosen to start this fund to help alleviate/offset as much of the burden as we can until we can all return to normalcy and start the 2020 baseball season. We look forward to that day with great anticipation.”

I still need another one or maybe two people to adopt a Royals minor leaguer. Any amount helps - and we would also happily accept things like adorable pictures drawn by your children. Or adults in your household, I guess.

At Kings of Kauffman, David Scharff is worried about future Royals attendance in the wake of the coronavirus. I would also add that going to games is expensive, and a lot of families’ savings are going to be shredded by the time baseball gets here.

There remains an unknown, though, about the long-lasting effects this pandemic will have on the overall attendance of games, even when fans are allowed back in to watch. [...] There are sure to be many fans and families who would rather catch the game on TV instead of taking their chances in a stadium full of people.

Deep into the Mellinger Minutes at the KC Star (which has lifted the paywall for any coronavirus content, including this column), Sam has a list of his favorite books about sports.

Also at the Star, Blair Kerkhoff and Lynn Worthy dropped the latest episode of the SportsBeat KC podcast.

Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros had groin surgery. He’ll be out 6-8 weeks, but so will the rest of baseball.

At FanGraphs, Brendan Gawlowski looks at how the baseball shutdown is worse for minor league players than their union-protected MLB counterparts:

“It sucks,” says one pitcher in a National League farm system who, like other players interviewed for this piece, preferred to remain anonymous. “I’m fortunate enough that I can come home and live with my parents and not pay any rent. But I have a lot of teammates who either have a kid or are married and don’t have the opportunity to go home and have their parents pay for everything.”

The Phillies and J.T. Realmuto are pausing extension talks.

So, two Yankees minor leaguers have tested positive for coronavirus.

After 20 years with the Patriots, Tom Brady is signing with Tampa Bay.

And speaking of QBs who have played a reaaaal long time with one team, Philip Rivers is now headed to the Colts on a one-year deal. In the same link - Cam Newton will leave Carolina, and Teddy Bridgewater will take his place.

Four Brooklyn Nets players tested positive for COVID-19, which triggered a round of tests for the Lakers, against whom the Nets played right before the world NBA season ended. All this testing for super-healthy young (rich & famous) men didn’t sit right with NYC mayor Bill de Blasio. The Nets’ other most recent opponents, the Warriors, will follow CDC guidelines and stick to self-isolation, and leave the scarce tests for higher-risk patients.

I don’t know anything about boxing, but I suppose Canelo and GGG announcing a 3rd fight is big news?

How to convince your parents or grandparents that yeah, we do need to take COVID-19 seriously.

Free book alert! Tor Books, the sci-fi and fantasy publisher, is offering ‘Redshirts’ by John Scalzi for free for the next few days. It’s a fun story and hilarious, and will hit anyone who’s ever watched even a moment of Star Trek just right. And it’s not about pandemics or the end of the world.

This could chew up a LOT of free time, if you know anyone who has a lot of that suddenly: 25 movies and the magazine stories that inspired them.

For family fun and education, here’s a list of 500 museums and galleries you can tour digitally, for free.

This episode of Reply All is exceptional. A man remembers a pop hit from the 90s, but nobody else does. Co-host PJ Vogt went to great lengths to try to find it.

Other great podcasts: Wondery is bringing yet another great miniseries to the table, with The Dating Game Killer. The details are highly upsetting, so skip this one if you need to. Less graphic was Bad Batch, a well-told story of a bogus stem cell therapy company. The Shrink Next Door should have been a much bigger deal.

Music for the day: Whenever, Wherever. I love Shakira so dang much. Go have a dance party in your living room; you deserve it.