Royals Rumblings - News for February 7, 2022

Royals Rumblings - News for February 7, 2022

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter writes about the Royals that need a strong spring training whenever that happens, like Ryan O’Hearn.

He has a career -1.3 fWAR in 275 career MLB games and his walk rate plummeted from 13.6 percent in 2020 to 5.1 percent in 2021 (which also resulted in his BB/K ratio going from 0.49 in 2020 to 0.18 last season). Additionally, O’Hearn offers little to no defensive value in the field, as he has a -10 DRS (defensive runs saved) mark at first base and -1 DRS in the outfield (he just began playing in right field last year).

Therefore, Royals fans should just throw in the towel on O’Hearn, right?

While it would be a safe bet, I don’t think O’Hearn is COMPLETELY done by any means.

Jordan Foote at Inside the Royals looks at comps for Vinnie Pasquantino.

Natural regression to the mean is reasonable to expect, so this isn’t to say that Pasquantino would have sustained this level of success over a sample size greater than 100 games. Rizzo and Butler also handled the jump to Triple-A quite well and were obviously ready to play at the MLB level due to their dominance at their final minor league stops. With that said, Pasquantino’s raw numbers are pretty easily the best of the group there. To this point, despite his lack of reputation relative to Rizzo or Butler when they were prospects, his Double-A production was superior.

The Royals are behind an effort to legalize sports betting in Kansas and Missouri.

“The priority right now is the legislation,” said Adam Sachs, senior vice president for the Royals.

With more than 30 states already legalizing sports betting, he said the major league teams believe it’s only a matter of time before Missouri approves a change.

“We’re all about enhancing the fan experience,” Sachs said. “We know that we need to connect with all demographics in order to continue to be an exciting sport and this is one way of engaging our fans in new and different ways.”

MLB owners are expected to meet in Orlando this week to regroup amid labor negotiations.

Clubs won’t be allowed to move up the date for minor league camps.

Former Royals minor league pitcher Carlos Sanabria signed a minor league deal with the Tigers.

The Twins sign former infielder Tim Beckham to a minor league deal.

The Yankees are expected to pursue free agent first baseman Freddie Freeman.

Former #1 overall pick Adrian Gonzalez officially retires.

Baseball still needs to do more to help minor leaguers.

Does Carlos Delgado deserve a longer look for Hall of Fame election?

The new St. Petersburg mayor wants to look at an airport site as a potential stadium location for the Rays.

Could Titans receiver A.J. Brown be eyeing a jump to baseball?

Former Royals pitcher Jeff Francis is elected into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

A trading card for Yankees prospect Jasson Dominguez goes for $475k.

A look back at the time Youppi! the Expos mascot was ejected from a game.

Boston Scott will become a two-sport athlete - NFL football and Rocket League esports.

The legacy of Linsanity, ten years later.

The rise of the $2.5 billion ugly shoe empire.

The price of Amazon Prime is going up.

Parents want their kids to have unique names these days.

Your song of the day is The Rolling Stones with Honky Tonk Won.