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Royals Rumblings - News for September 1, 2020
Lynn Worthy writes that the Royals aren’t looking to tank.
Yet the Royals show no appetite, thus far, for “tanking,” or allowing losses to pile up and draft positioning to improve while the final month serves as purely a developmental exercise for young players.
“I’ve been fortunate in my managerial career that I’ve never been there,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “I’ve had plenty of conversations with Dayton, understanding the landscape. I don’t stick my head in the sand. I understand where we are right now. I wish we had a lot more wins, but I’m still chasing and doing the exact same thing.”
The Royals held onto veteran right-handed reliever Greg Holland, who reportedly garnered interest from many clubs. Holland, 34, will be a free agent at the end of this season.
Craig Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus weighs in on Ryan McBroom’s hot start.
McBroom is doing damage on the pitches he’s making contact with, but with an overall contact rate nine percentage points below the league-average, he’s going to need to start making contact more often—even if there’s a tradeoff in contact quality. Otherwise, this is the sort of situation where the book on McBroom might start getting around, forcing the slugger to make adjustments. Still, it’s not often we see a Quad-A type of hitter leave the Yankees and then experience a breakout. McBroom is doing just that … for now.
Mike Matheny said the Royals are going to go with a six-man rotation for this 17-game stretch. Matt Harvey will start Tuesday, and Jakob Junis will start Wednesday.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) August 31, 2020
Ian Kennedy is placed on the Injured List with Chance Adams replacing him.
In a procedural move, the Royals announced they have reinstated Nick Heath from the Injured List and optioned him to their alternate site.
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) August 31, 2020
Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report didn’t want the Royals to stand pat at the deadline.
David Scharff at Kings of Kauffman wants more Ryan McBroom.
Here is a summary of all the trades made this week.
Dan Szymborski looks at how the Mike Clevinger deal affects the National League pennant race.
Reds manager David Bell is suspended for one game for a bench-clearing incident last week.
The A’s-Mariners series is postponed through Wednesday after a positive COVID-19 test.
Next year’s draft will be pushed back to All-Star weekend.
Is the American League playoff picture already settled?
Where could Leonard Fournette end up now that the Jaguars have let him go?’
Madden has produced a generation of smarter football fans.
The airline industry is ditching change fees because it is desperate for people to fly.
Will interstellar travel change human language?
The Umbrella Academy card game is pretty difficult!
Your song of the day is Spin Doctors with Two Princes.