Royals Rumblings - News for November 9, 2022

In the Royals Beat newsletter, Anne Rogers wrote about how Matt Quatraro will incorporate analytics, and ends with a bit about Pedro Grifol’s move to Chicago as their new manager:

“He’s a pro,” Picollo said Thursday. “Life takes these twists and turns, who would have thought an assistant hitting coach in rookie ball would turn into 10-11 years in the big leagues, couple of World Series, a championship. Really happy for him.”

Grifol will keep some Royals ties: At long last, he’ll be able to wear No. 5 again.

“I wore No. 5, really all my life, because of George Brett,” Grifol told reporters in Chicago. “And then in Kansas City I couldn’t wear it because of George Brett, and it was non-negotiable with George Brett. I brought it up one time, and he was like don’t even think about it. George is a dear friend, and I love him, I love him for what he’s done for me.”

Time will tell, but it seems that both the White Sox and the Royals hired the right person for their club at this time. Now they’ll go head-to-head several times a year.

Jim Callis at MLB.com ranked 2022 MLB rookies based on long-term value, including Bobby Witt, Jr. at #4, MJ Melendez at #21, and Vinnie Pasquantino at #28.

Pasquantino and Nicky Lopez will play for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic:

At Inside the Crown, David Lesky makes free agent predictions around MLB, including this one for the Royals:

Zach Eflin

Old Team: Phillies

New Team: Royals

Contract: 2 years, $17 million

Eflin is not an innings-eater. He threw 75.2 innings in the regular season this year and just 105.2 last season. But he has been generally pretty solid over the last five years with a 4.16 ERA and 4.02 FIP in 531.2 innings. He doesn’t walk many and he gets some strikeouts. For a team like the Royals that needs arms, he can be a nice fit and I think he’s a good bet for someone they might target. He’s had some home run issues in the past at times, and Kauffman Stadium is a good place to rid yourself of those. I’d say he’s a good bet for 22-25 starts at a league average or so ERA, which is something the Royals need a lot more of based on last season’s rotation.

Craig Brown’s latest at Into the Fountains dove into some data to figure out if banning the shift will help or hurt the Royals. There’s a fascinating table in there looking at how often the Royals have employed the shift in different seasons.

MLB Trade Rumors has an absolute bevy of news items on former Royals:

• Dodgers to decline Hanser Alberto’s club option
• Diamondbacks decline Ian Kennedy’s mutual option
• Reds decline Mike Minor’s mutual option
• Jorge Soler will not exercise opt-out, so he’ll still be a Marlin in 2023
• Orioles outright Cam Gallagher, and he opted for minor league free agency
• Dodgers to decline club option on Danny Duffy

This year’s World Series was the 2nd least-watched ever.

Sort of related to our discussion last Wednesday about picking music: the reason Spotify shuffle isn’t really random (and how to fix it).

Three was a $2 billion Powerball winner. Was it you?!

If you recently bought a tub of Nestle cookie dough, it may be subject to a recall because it may have a “soft plastic film” in the dough.

Podcast recommendation: the Swindled episode on Nestle baby formula.

But speaking of cookies, Crumbl Cookies launched a subscription service. Is there a Crumbl near you? Do the cookies live up to the hype?

In lieu of a Reddit question, I would simply like to gripe about mortgage interest rates. Can they please stop being so high? I’d like to purchase a home sometime in my lifetime.

SOTD: The Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers