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Royals Rumblings - News for August 24, 2021
Lynn Worthy writes that Andrew Benintendi has been key to the recent success.
“He’s a guy who can just hit,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “It’s fun to watch when he can let the ball travel and he’s not compromised at all physically.
“He’s putting together some really clutch at-bats too. We get into situations where we need something to happen, and he seems to be a guy who keeps coming through for us right now.”
Anne Rogers provides some injury updates, including the return of Kyle Zimmer.
“It was good to work on some mechanical stuff, cleaning up my front side and some other things,” Zimmer said. “It was a good little break to work on a few things here and there. I’m excited to be back and get back to the swing of things.”
Carlos Santana has a grade 1 hip flexor strain and is considered day-to-day right now. #Royals will assess how he feels tomorrow.
— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) August 24, 2021
David Lesky at Inside the Crown writes that the Royals could have potentially four Gold Glovers.
According to Fangraphs, among players with 500 or more innings at their position, Lopez came into play yesterday ranking fifth in the American League with three defensive runs saved. However, he ranked at the top in terms of total defensive value and led by quite a bit actually. At second base, Merrifield led all second basemen with 13 DRS, three ahead of Marcus Semien. He ranked seventh behind Semien in defensive value. Those two have been so good up the middle that it’s actually a little surprising to me. I don’t think either will win a gold glove because it’s not all a statistical competition, but they both should be finalists and both have a shot.
Alex Duvall writes about the upcoming 40-man roster crunch this off-season.
I don’t like leaving Dairon Blanco, Yefril Del Rosario, and Josh Dye off the list, as I think there’s a halfway decent chance all three could be selected, but I just don’t know if I expect the Royals to clear space for 10 different players to protect this offseason. Leaving the roster at 38 means they could still add Matias or Blanco, but there’s just too many guys that need protecting.
I’m not willing to leave off Austin Cox or Maikel Garcia if I’m KC. Under no circumstances should the Royals allow either of them to get away.
The Blue Jays release former Royals minor leaguer Elvis Luciano and the Orioles designate former Royals third baseman Maikel Franco for assignment.
Wait, what.
Whit Merrifield just said some guy hired him to break up with his girlfriend on Cameo so he did it but he threw the guy under the bus and roasted him the whole time
— Jordan Foote (@footenoted) August 23, 2021
Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman writes that Domingo Tapia is making his mark.
Lucas Murphy at Inside the Royals thinks Salvador Perez could be among the all-time Royals greats.
The Padres fire pitching coach Larry Rothschild.
The Cubs win their first home game in a month.
The Blue Jays will require all fans and staff to be vaccinated or show proof of a negative test.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the Mets.
What other sluggers could reach 500 home runs?
Wander Franco’s breakout is happening in real time.
How the Giants just keep winning.
How do the Rookie of the Year races look at this point?
Prosecutors say former Los Angeles Angels employee Eric Kay asked drug suppliers to deliver opioids to stadium.
The ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 are set to formally announce an alliance.
How the 2011 season ushered in the NFL’s offensive explosion.
Bike retailers had issues with Amazon as demand soared during the pandemic.
Is Netflix becoming too clickbaity?
The Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer drops with a new adventure for Peter Parker.
Your song of the day is Nirvana with Serve the Servants.