Royals Rumblings - News for January 20, 2022

Royals Rumblings - News for January 20, 2022

Jeff Montgomery recalls the 1994 work stoppage.

The strike began on Aug. 12. The players’ initially thought by striking in August it would leave time to reconcile and still have a postseason. Instead, the season never resumed and the World Series didn’t take place for the first time since 1904. MLB became the first major American professional sports league to lose an entire postseason because of labor struggles.

“It’s a hard one to sell publicly,” Montgomery said. “Because everyone who looks in the newspaper and sees what the player is making says, ‘How in the world can he go on strike making that much money?’ You almost have to erase the number, what the actual salary is, and say we went on strike for the right to earn what an employer is willing to pay us.

The Royals hire longtime Braves scout Roy Clark to serve as an advisor in the front office.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be with Kansas City,” Clark said. “I think it’s a first-class organization. It starts with ownership and then with [president of baseball operations] Dayton [Moore] and [general manager] J.J. [Picollo]. I’ve worked with so many of them before and have so much respect for those guys. I’ll tell you what: I like the future in Kansas City. I think they’ve had great Drafts. And it’s just a matter of time before some of them get up to the big leagues and start helping them get back to championship level.”

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report ranks Royals prospects #11-15, with infielder Miakel Garcia at #14.

Garcia doesn’t hit for much power at present, which drug down his overall offensive production a little bit, but his bat-to-ball skills and overall plate discipline is borderline elite for a player his age and at that level. Add that in to the fact that Garcia is a plus defender at SS and a plus runner on the bases, and you have the beginnings of what might be the Royals next SS. The Royals thought enough of Garcia to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft this past offseason by adding him to their 40-man roster. A soon-to-be 22-year old that’s never taken a single at bat in AA. This isn’t exactly the typical profile of a position player taken in the Rule 5 Draft, but that ought to tell you quite a bit about what the Royals think of Maikel Garcia’s potential.

In an editorial at the Star, Steven C. Schlozman shares his memory of Kauffman Stadium and argues against a downtown stadium.

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman thinks free agent pitcher Collin McHugh could be a good fit for the Royals.

Before the lockout, Carlos Correa was looking for a deal over $330 million.

Ken Rosenthal writes at The Athletic about the state of the labor standoff.

Should the Reds trade any of their starting pitchers?

Former Giants and Pirates pitcher Roger Samuels dies at the age of 61.

Greg Maddux reveals he would have signed with the Yankees over the Braves - were it not for a heart attack by a Yankees executive.

How 1972 changed baseball forever.

The death of a woman and her son last summer at Petco Field is ruled a suicide/homicide.

Why does Hall of Fame voting make people so mad?

A look back at the oldest MLB player to ever get a hit.

What baseball movie has the greatest ending?

NBC won’t send announcers to the Winter Olympics in China.

Michigan sources think coach Jim Harbaugh will bolt for the Raiders.

Scientists say chemical pollution has passed the safe limit for humans.

Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series has a name.

Kansas native Bridget Everett has gone from cabaret to an understated coming-of-age series on HBO.

Your song of the day is Death Cab for Cutie with My Mirror Speaks.