Royals Rumblings - News for December 23, 2022

Anne Rogers reports that Mitch Stetter has been hired to be the bullpen coach.

Stetter, 41, spent the past three seasons as the Royals’ manager of pitching performance and he has been a pitching coach in the organization since 2014 — first as a player/bullpen coach at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. When he formally retired from playing (he was a big league reliever with the Brewers from 2007-11) he became the pitching coach for the Surprise Royals (Rookie league) and then for Single-A Lexington.

Stetter had been tasked with bridging the gap between Kansas City’s Minor League pitchers and the research and development department in his role as the manager of pitching performance, and he has worked with nearly all the Royals’ homegrown pitchers who are now at the Major League level.

J.J. Picollo talks to Red Sox Digest about Jacob Wallace, the pitcher acquired from Boston this week.

“Good fastball, and he’s been throwing a couple of different types of breaking balls but later in the year it looked like he settled in on one that seemed to work a little bit better … He does have some characteristics of a good changeup as well … We like him, and we’re glad we got him.”

Something that stands out about Wallace though is a 7.78 walks per nine innings, which would rank dead last in all of Major League Baseball by a longshot had he posted that mark at the majors.

“We’re certainly aware of it,” Picollo said. “Those numbers don’t lie. But when you think you can come up with a plan to help a guy address a deficiency and make it better, there’s reason to have optimism and reason to think we can help him.

David Lesky at Inside the Crown has some ideas for more moves the Royals can make, such as beefing up the bullpen with Michael Fulmer and Craig Kimbrel.

Kimbrel may not be a closer anymore either, but add him to the back of the bullpen with Barlow, Coleman and Fulmer and you have to feel good about leads. I’d let Kimbrel work as the closer to let Barlow work as the fireman personally, but I don’t think it especially matters much. If the Royals want to be “transactional,” having Barlow, Fulmer and Kimbrel as potential trade pieces at the deadline could net them a pretty strong return.

I’d anticipate Fulmer costing somewhere around $4 or $5 million and Kimbrel might fetch more like $8 million, though I’m just guessing here.

The Royals released minor league reliever Arodys Viczaino.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter argues for his selections into the Royals Hall of Fame.

The Omaha Storm Chasers are helping the community.

The Orioles acquire catcher James McCann.

Wil Myers signs a one-year, $7.5 million deal with the Reds.

The Cubs sign catcher Tucker Barnhart to a two-year deal.

Washington claims former prospect Jeter Downs off waivers from Boston.

Trevor Bauer has his suspension reduced and is reinstated.

The Mets will pay more in luxury taxes than ten teams are projected to pay in payroll.

Baseball executives criticize the Mets spending spree, but are they admitting to collusion?

The fastest-working pitchers talk about adapting to a pitch clock.

What are the top ten lineups in baseball?

Is Jeff Kent being snubbed from the Hall of Fame?

Seven Chiefs were voted into the Pro Bowl.

The funniest sports moments of the year.

Wind power on Mars could eventually power human habitats.

Why did a Roomba record an image of a woman on the toilet that ended up on Facebook?

The kids from That ‘70s Show are all grown up in the reboot entitled That ‘90s Show.

Your song of the day is Snow Patrol with Spitting Games.