Royals Rumblings - News for June 8, 2022

David Lesky thinks Mike Matheny might need to go, and later in the same newsletter, provides names of potential replacements for manager and other positions:

Every time I think about the Royals and how bad they are, I always come back to the idea that they shouldn’t be this bad. Yes, the underlying metrics indicate they should be, but I mean from a talent-perspective. Why is no young pitcher thriving? They have so many of them that even if you put all the blame on the development system, one or two should be emerging. I don’t know. There’s just something I can’t quite put my finger on, though maybe I am putting my finger on now, that doesn’t feel right with this team and this roster.

So again, I’ll ask the question of if Matheny is actively hurting the Royals. And I think if the signs that we’re all seeing are accurate, then you can say yes. At this point, the Royals aren’t making the playoffs without one of the craziest miracle finishes we’ve ever seen. But I believe this isn’t about making the playoffs. This is about something much bigger. This is about a franchise that could kind of be at a crossroads right now. If I am right here, and I might not be, I think they have to make a move now. Let Pedro Grifol take on the interim role and see if he can’t change the direction a little bit. That gives you a chance to see if he should be the next manager or if they should look elsewhere.

Our friends at Royals Farm Report had Baseball America’s Ben Badler on the pod.

While regular broadcaster Jake Eisenberg is on the road with the Mets, the Omaha Storm Chasers have some celebrity fill-ins coming to the airwaves:

(I got to meet Mike Ferrin before last night’s game! I’m happy he’s here.)

Two Angels items: Joe Maddon was fired as their manager, and (likely not related) Mike Trout left last night’s game with groin tightness.

Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic did a Q&A with Maddon in the immediate aftermath of his dismissal.

You said it was liberating. Why? Usually managers are crushed when this happens.

It’s been kind of difficult overall. I’m into analytics, but not to the point where everybody wants to shove it down your throat. Real baseball people have felt somewhat impacted by all of this. You’re unable to just go to the ballpark and have some fun and play baseball. It’s too much controlled by front offices these days.

I actually talked to Perry about this. This isn’t anything new. I told him that. I said you just try to reduce the information you’re giving, try to be aware of who’s giving the information and really be aware of when it’s time to stay out of the way. In general the industry has gone too far in that direction and that’s part of the reason people aren’t into our game as much as they have been.

Stephen Strasburg will come back from the IL and start for the Nationals tomorrow.

The Marlins had a team meeting to air grievances following a 10-22 stretch of games.

All the ways home improvement and real estate TV shows are lying to you.

This Ask a Manager letter writer cares a lot about the tone of emails they receive. Do you? What are your professional emails like?

The xkcd comic from the other day really speaks to me. Or whatever.

The right way to pet a dog.

SOTD: Randy Travis - Deeper Than the Holler