Weekend Rumblings - News for May 28, 2022

Weekend Rumblings - News for May 28, 2022

Vahe Gregorian talks to owner John Sherman about the losing, a new ballpark, and their TV deal.

“We’re not happy with the results. We’re not where we thought we would be.” Asked if he should be considered patient given his past, he laughed and said, “Well, patience is a relative term. … You have to balance patience with having a sense of urgency to get better.”

He added, “You want to be decisive but thoughtful. And the main thing is not to panic.”

While Sherman didn’t explicitly refer to Bradshaw, he referred to his trust in the leadership “focused on improving that performance and willing to make tough decisions to make sure that it’s clear that our expectations are higher than this.”

Sam McDowell at the Star thinks the Royals need to play the kids soon.

Without even squinting, you could actually see the makings of a future big-league lineup. Maybe it should be the present-day lineup, too. The Royals are having those discussions as you read this, but so far they’ve waited on calling up the likes of Nick Pratto and Vinnie Pasquantino to the major leagues.

The outside noise is that Carlos Santana and Ryan O’Hearn are blocking Pratto and Pasquantino from reaching the majors, which, if true, would be rightfully frustrating. But that’s not the reason for this specific delay. The Royals scouts simply don’t think Pratto and Pasquantino are ready quite yet. They don’t believe they’re too far off, either, but just not yet. When that analysis changes, the Royals will make room, no matter the necessary resulting transaction.

Fangraphs ranks the top 47 prospects in the Royals’ system.

Generally viewed by the rest of the industry as one of the orgs further toward the old school end of the spectrum, the Royals seem to care a little less about fastball shape and in-zone utility. A lack of fastball playability is why we ultimately left sink-and-tail righties Kowar and Singer off our Top 100 lists even when they were carving at the upper levels, and they haven’t been able to develop a viable breaking ball or changeup, respectively, that would have made us wrong for doing that. Even some of the pitchers with riding fastball life don’t tend to locate that pitch where it’s most effective (see: Heasley, Jonathan), which may be more about the pitcher than the org’s philosophy. Kansas City’s amateur department has done a good job filling the system with guys who have big stuff, but those guys don’t tend to get much better after they arrive.

Craig Brown at Into the Fountains reviews the Royals at the quarter point of the season.

Speaking of progress, what exactly was I thinking heading into this season? I want to say that I saw this coming, but sadly, I was too busy adjusting my blinders. It feels like I have failed as an analyst. I have to wear this. This was a club that finished 11th in OBP, 13th in slugging percentage and 13th in runs scored in the AL in 2021; their lone move to bolster the lineup was the promotion of Bobby Witt Jr. to the big leagues. Don’t get me wrong…Bobby Witt Jr. is going to be a successful ballplayer. But the dude alone is not enough to pull this offense out of the abyss.

Pete Grathoff talks to Mike Sweeney about what it was like to fill in on radio broadcasts for the Royals this year.

Jordan Foote at Inside the Royals has a mailbag column where he considers Bobby Witt Jr.’s Rookie of the Year chances.

Preston Farr at Kings of Kauffman thinks it is time to be honest about Nicky Lopez.

The Orioles score ten unanswered runs to top the Red Sox.

Reds outfielder Tommy Pham and Giants outfielder Joc Pederson have a confrontation before the game, reportedly over fantasy football.

Pitcher Carlos Martinez is suspended 80 games for PED use.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler will not come out for the national anthem due to the direction of the country.

Will the Red Sox try to extend J.D. Martinez?

What’s going on with Shane Bieber?

A look at some prospects that could give a boost to contenders upon their promotion.

Baseball players have an underground cheesesteak eating competition.

The Lakers hire Milwaukee assistant coach Darvin Ham to be their head coach.

Patrick Mahomes will participate in a charity golf match against Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers next week.

Do we have too many casinos?

Quantum computers could change the world, but will they work?

What it took for actors to portray pilots for Top Gun.

Your song of the day is Kenny Loggins with Danger Zone.