Royals Rumblings - News for December 15, 2021

The Royals are hiring Sam Mellinger away from his columnist role at the Kansas City Star to be their VP of communications.

Mellinger joins the team he’s covered for over a decade. His knowledge of the area and the Royals organization was crucial to his hiring.

“It was an extremely thorough and intense process with multiple layers,” president of baseball operations Dayton Moore said. “Sam did an amazing job and displayed, at the end of the day, his appreciation and knowledge of the history of the organization. His love for Kansas City, our community and the organization were separators.”

Mellinger will start on Monday, overseeing the Royals’ media relations department, which acts as the liaison between the organization and media and is responsible for the publication of the team media guide, yearbook, gameday magazine, daily game notes and press releases.

What are teams paying per WAR in free agency? Ben Clemens at FanGraphs investigated. There’s a funny hypothetical at the beginning involving an old Royals friend.

Jace Vines is the latest guest on the StormCast:

Former Royal Jake Newberry is among six players the Phillies signed to minors deals.

Orioles games will be a beta testing site for a new 3D-imaging scanner that should be a faster way to make sure no one is bringing outside food weapons into the ballpark.

Steph Curry now has more 3-pointers than anyone in NBA history.

Elsewhere in the NBA, Shaq wore a wig during his regular TNT studio shenanigans, because he hit his head on an exit sign and that required bandages. #TallPeopleProblems

Drew Magary rates the five worst Christmas songs at Defector. ($)

People who can afford superyachts are building and buying more superyachts than ever. Evidently the pandemic-fueled rise of remote work left a lot of bosses realizing they can do whatever the heck billionaire boss people do from the high seas, instead of in their offices.

I noticed the real estate agents and brokers on ‘Selling Sunset’ avoiding the phrase ‘master bedroom’ in season 4. Here’s why it’s a good phrase to ditch.

Apparently the creator of American Girl dolls bought an entire town to apply that aesthetic to.

Nicolas Cage will star in a movie about Nicolas Cage, playing Nicolas Cage (I think?), in theaters next year.

SOTD: Olivia Rodrigo did a Tiny Desk Concert, but at a DMV (because Driver’s License, lol).