Royals Rumblings - News for June 15, 2020

Royals Rumblings - News for June 15, 2020

Lynn Worthy wrote about Whit Merrifield taking to social media to comment on negotiations between players and owners.

Kansas City Royals All-Star Whit Merrifield took to Twitter on Saturday night in an attempt to interject a measure of optimism. Merrifield responded to a tweet from longtime baseball writer Jayson Stark of The Athletic .

Stark’s tweet painted a dark picture for the future of the sport in light of the arduous and ultimately unfruitful back and forth between the MLB and MLBPA. Stark’s tweet included an unattributed comment, “I can’t see a single ray of sunshine.”

Merrifield tweeted in response, “I can. Baseball is coming back. That’s a fact. And it’s such a beautiful game. While the business of it may suck sometimes, that doesn’t take away from the beauty of the game we love and miss. ‘Distance makes the heart grow fonder.’”

Clint Scoles at Royals Academy grades the draft a “B-” for the Royals.

The Royals draft is in the books and I must say on my first reaction I was less than enthused giving the draft a C grade. Upon further review, I think that grade was likely a bit harsh. Just breaking down the draft, obviously the most important and best pick in the draft is that of Asa Lacy. Currently I have him ranked at #3 behind Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch as those two have a lot of similarities with Lacy in that they have two plus pitches and some questions in regards to command.

Royals’ fourth-round pick Christian Chamberlain had a Royals connection before the draft.

“With a 40-round draft you’re a lot more sure,” Chamberlain said. “But we had decent knowledge where we going to go, and kind of went in that area.”...

It wasn’t a big surprise that Kansas City was the team that made the call with the 105th pick. The Royals organization has been among teams most aggressively pursuing Chamberlain in the weeks leading up to the draft. The father of Chamberlain’s best friend from high school is a Royals area supervisor in Northern California. Getting intel wasn’t difficult.

Fifth round pick Will Klein seems happy to be with the Royals.

“You never know what might happen though,” said Klein. “I didn’t get to pitch a lot in the spring and you don’t know who saw you. I knew Kansas City saw me against Arkansas and Florida and they must have liked what they saw. I am very happy with what happened.”

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter imagines a Royals Baseball Academy reborn.

Players reject the latest owners’ proposal, and have asked MLB to set a schedule.

MLB lands a billion-dollar deal with Turner Sports for the playoffs.

A judge orders a letter from Rob Manfred that reportedly alleges sign-stealing by the Yankees to be unsealed.

Former Jets quarterback Christian Hackenberg wants to try a pro baseball career.

A pitching coach and a player tested positive for coronavirus.

How MLB teams can be creative with college money to lure undrafted free agents.

MLB.com ranks each team’s best season by a player over 40.

ESPN writers discuss how they remember the 1998 home run chase.

How minor leaguers are fighting to claim unemployment benefits.

Many European soccer leagues notified teams of their championship through a text.

The risks and stakes for the NBA’s return.

How four Americans robbed the Bank of London in 1872.

The Internet Archive has ended its National Emergency Library program after lawsuits from publishers.

Takeaways from the PS5 reveal.

Your song of the day is Cake with Let Me Go.