Royals Rumblings - News for January 16, 2021

On Friday, the Yankees and DJ Lemahieu came to a 6 year, $90M agreement. The 32 year old Lemahieu has been very consistently productive at the dish for the last 5 seasons, especially the last 2 where he tapped into some unseen power he had never produced prior to joining the Yankees.

There was a time where I thought the Royals could potentially use the services of Lemahieu even though there were never any public rumors of them being in on him. He was obviously a very good player with the ability to play multiple positions in the field, so every team could find a place for him in their everyday lineup. But I thought he could bring a lot to the young team in a consistent bat and veteran leadership in the clubhouse capacity.

Then the Yankees constructed a Smaug-level treasure room in Lemahieu’s house and we were reminded again that the Yankees are playing with a stacked deck. The Royals were never in on Lemahieu because the Yankees were always able to stick with Lemahieu’s undoubtedly high and fluid asking price. I mean Kansas City was in an uproar for most of the essentially 6 years, $73.3M they gave a home grown legend in Alex Gordon. Gordon was 32, had 4 gold gloves, carried a 122 wRC+ over the previous 5 seasons, and was a leader of a core group that had appeared in the last two World Series.

And after his first season in that contract, Royals fans couldn’t wait to get his contract off the books.

Which brings us to this brutal reminder that the Yankees can afford to add “good-probably-great-not-elite” 32 year olds, paying them $15M per year until they’re 38 years old, to their estimated $167M payroll, and not flinch from it. This situation won’t change and it’ll forever be a David vs. Goliath situation when it comes to the payroll, but it’s a bit shitty to be reminded of that fact on a regular basis.

On to the Rumblings...

The Royals avoided arbitration with Adalberto Mondesi and Brad Keller...

Which is great considering some executives are expecting this offseason’s arbitration hearings to get a but uglier than usual, which is already ugly sometimes.

Here are the numbers:

Helluva deal.

Speaking of helluva deal, the Royals signed Dominican shortstop, Daniel Vazquez, to a $1.5M contract. Vazquez was getting comps to a young Fernando Tatis Jr./young Manny Machado.

David Scharff at Kings of Kauffman made the case to bring in Corey Kluber. I’ve always been on that train.

The MLB somehow still doesn’t know if they’ll have a universal DH this season or not.

The Clearing Waivers Podcast had SB Nation brother, Craig Stout from Arrowhead Pride, on this week as well as Mizzou Women’s PbP announcer, Brad Tregnago if you’re in to those sorts of things.

Tom Holland has had a ridiculous year in his acting career and his newest trailer dropped on Thursday. He’s teaming up with the Russo Brothers again, this time in a 4th wall breaking drama that I’m very interested in.

The first 2 episodes of Marvel’s Wandavision dropped and the reviews are currently going well (94% from critics on RT, 88% from audience). It is delightfully weird but I’m in.

New details about the Mortal Kombat reboot have come out, including cast details and stills.

Fantasy Football Player Curse Adrenaline Rush of the Week

I’ve got nearly a decade of food service industry under my belt. I’ve worked the front of the house and the back of the house. I have stress dreams about dinner rushes and getting double sat. And for some reason I’ve started to play a game called Overcooked.

You’re basically a chef trying to cook in increasingly difficult and frustrating situations. Along with my food service/multitasking experience, I think of myself as an above average gamer and this is pretty damn challenging for me. While playing, my adrenaline is pumping, my blood pressure is rising, and my eyes are drying out, but I can’t put it down.

Song of the Day

“Overcome” - Creed

Yes. Your eyes are not deceiving you. This is a Creed appearance in the SOTD. Save your jokes; this song goes in. It’s got a great message and a great guitar solo. What more could you ask for on a beautiful Winter Saturday?