Royals Rumblings - News for June 29, 2022

In her newsletter, Royals beat writer Anne Rogers quotes GM JJ Picollo making it sound like the Royals will be busy this trade season:

It’s becoming clearer, though, that the Royals will listen to offers on most of their players, outside of Bobby Witt Jr., MJ Melendez and now Pasquantino.

“We’re going to be exploring everything we can possibly explore to make our team better,” Picollo said. “Guys on expiring contracts tend to draw a little bit more interest than those that are not, especially teams that are contending. So a lot like we’ve gone through with Carlos, we’ll go through the same process with Andrew. Andrew is a really good player. He’s having a great year. If he’s with us the entire year, we’ll be a better team for it. But at the same time, I think if there’s an opportunity that allows us to make us better not only today but more so even moving into the future, we have to be open minded to it.

“Really, that goes for all our players. We just have to be open minded to improve this team any way we can.”

Amir Garrett will look to Codify for pitching guidance:

At Into the Fountains, Craig Brown reveals a theory as to what actually got the transactional juices flowing for the Royals:

Let’s examine the events that led to this move. First, Salvador Perez had surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament on his left thumb. You’re damn straight I think these events are connected. With a recovery timetable of at least eight weeks, Perez will be lost for most, if not all, of the rest of the season. I would be willing to wager that this, not the fact they’ve been pacing for 100 losses since May, is the catalyst for this front office to begin to revamp this offense. They seem to operate in a different reality at times. It’s not outside the realm of probability that they have been clinging to the hope that Perez could elevate this offense and carry it to maybe 70 wins. Or at the very least, another strong September finish. What better way to sell their brand of offseason optimism heading into 2023? Just look at the headline from the article above. It’s how they operate.

With Perez sidelined, that means a rethink for how the Royals will approach these next couple of months. Rather than focusing needlessly on a won-loss record, the club will now shift to becoming more transactional. It’s a wild theory, but one that’s probably a little closer to reality than anyone would like to admit.

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The latest podcast with our pals on KCSN:

The Senate Judiciary Committee is looking at MLB’s antitrust exemption and how it affects the treatment and pay of minor leaguers.

After a visit to his former team, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman ditched his agency, deciding that he didn’t like the way they handled his departure from the Braves.

Some injury notes from around baseball:

• Angels reliever Archie Bradley broke his elbow, apparently trying to climb over the dugout railing to participate in the brawl between his team and the Mariners.
• Braves closer Kenley Jansen has a history of cardiac issues, and is again headed to the IL with an irregular heartbeat.
• Tigers outfielder Austin Meadows somehow has strains in both his Achilles tendons, which sounds horrible.
• Bryce Harper needs to have surgery on his thumb after he was hit by a pitch.

The Yankees dugout amused themselves with bubble gum target practice. Ballplayers are weird and I’m here for that.

An excerpt from Jason Kander’s book, in which he discusses his PTSD. [Content note: discussion of suicidal thoughts throughout, and interior experience of a psychiatric care facility]

Travis Barker of Blink-182 was hospitalized for an undisclosed reason.

I feel like there’s an audience here for the sale on this LEGO TIE fighter, or perhaps for this NERF vest set. These are not affiliate links that benefit anyone at or related to Royals Review; I am passing them along from a deals site I follow because they looked fun.

What is going on with Chris Pratt on the press tour for his new movie? And can someone help get Taylor Kitsch out of there?

Sorry it’s a slideshow, but here are 16 unbreakable rules of parking lot etiquette. Honestly feel free to skip the slideshow and just tell us yours, because I (and I am being sincere here) kind of enjoy complaining about parking lots.

SOTD: Taylor Swift - Carolina