Royals Rumblings - News for July 28, 2021

If you missed it on the front page here yesterday, the Royals have six prospects on the latest Baseball America Top 100: Bobby Witt, Jr., Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar, Nick Pratto, Asa Lacy, and MJ Melendez.

Speaking of prospects and ranking them numerically, our friends at Royals Farm Report issued #20-11 of the midseason Royals prospect rankings, including new top pick Frank Mozzicato at #14:

I didn’t love the pick at the time but I am coming around on it a little bit. There is a TON of upside here. Mozzicato’s fastball plays well in the upper parts of the zone for only being 90-92 (from what I’ve seen against some…inferior opponents), and his curveball has legitimately elite spin rates that you just cannot teach. Let’s say this all plays out and Mozzicato is pumping 97 in a couple years with a hammer for a curveball. Fantastic. I can actually see it happening. Mozzicato has that kind of projection and ability in my opinion. I just hope he’s in the right system to help him get there. If he does, you’ve got a kid as talented as Daniel Lynch on your hands. You could also have the next….well….use your imagination.

MLB Trade Rumors listed Whit Merrifield at #17 on a list of 60 top trade candidates. Danny Duffy also appeared in a sub-list of interesting candidates who are on the IL.

A perennial entrant in the July rumor extravaganza, Merrifield is reported to be “more” available than he was in years past. Of course, he was completely off limits in 2018 and almost entirely off limits in 2019, so that’s not a high bar to clear. Merrifield’s bat is coming around after a slow month of May, and he’s leading the league in steals. His contract is eminently affordable and keeps him under club control through 2023. The Royals are trying to win now, so they’ll want MLB-ready pieces in return. A trade still seems like a long shot.

Dayton Moore told Anne Rogers at Royals dot com that all trades made this week would be toward winning in 2022, so we have that to...look forward to?

“Anything that we would do at the Deadline, regardless of what our record is, would be focused on how to be better in 2022,” general manager Dayton Moore said Tuesday. “So that is continuing as we go forward. But it’s still very early. A lot of the things that get done oftentimes are at the last minute. We’re really just focused on keeping as many of our good players together.”

Moore made it clear that he wants to keep core players and key contributors for 2022 on the Royals current roster, and presumably that means players like second baseman Whit Merrifield, who has seen his name surface in trade rumors every year. The Mariners are interested in the 32-year-old with one more guaranteed year on his contract, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, and the Mets reportedly have interest in him, too.

But any deal for a player of Merrifield’s caliber would have to “overwhelm” the Royals, Moore said without naming any names.

Here’s a primer on how Olympic baseball works.

Much like he did with the Royals, Patrick Mahomes bought part of Sporting Kansas City.

Probably inspired by Bobby Witt Jr. doing this in Omaha last week, Bryce Harper hit an inside-the-park home run.

The Mets drafted Vanderbilt star pitcher Kumar Rocker, but their agreement may be in jeopardy after Rocker’s physical reportedly revealed some elbow issues.

The Brewers placed Christian Yelich and Jace Peterson on the covid-related IL. Oh, and the Nationals lost a star as shortstop Trea Turner tested positive for the virus as well.

The loss of Turner came on the heels of the news that Stephen Strasburg needs season-ending surgery.

By withdrawing from the team final yesterday, Simone Biles chose her health over gold after suffering for years in an abusive coaching program.

LeVar Burton is up as guest host on Jeopardy! this week, and on first episode, a contestant broke the record for lowest money total ever in the show’s history. As with any time Burton’s name comes up, I must now remind you that he hosts a podcast where he reads you great short fiction and talks about why he loves each story. It is Reading Rainbow for grownups and it will improve your life.

A long look at the Chowchilla bus kidnapping of 1976.

Toyota is trying to get Congress to slow the shift to electric vehicles.

Lifehacker asks: are bone conduction headphones worth the hype? I have the same question. I think I want some so I can listen to the Storm Chasers radio broadcast while I’m shooting games, but I would still want to hear noises around me (in case of foul balls coming my way, etc.). Any advice from you all on them?

SOTD: Bruno Mars et al - Leave the Door Open. So smooth.