Weekend Rumblings - News for August 20, 2022

Weekend Rumblings - News for August 20, 2022

Michael Massey talks to Lynn Worthy about his approach.

“I’ve always been a line-drive, gap-to-gap kind of guy,” Massey said earlier this week. “Sometimes in the minors, I’ve been able to hit maybe a few more home runs than even I would have thought and, for sure, what other people would have thought.

“I don’t really think that’s my game. I know I had 21 last year and 16 this year down there. But I think it’s more of just line drives, singles, doubles, making contact, driving in runs, and I’ll accidentally hit some out. I don’t know that that’s necessarily going to be my game moving forward, hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Those things might just come. Gap-to-gap is really my approach.”

Alec Lewis at The Athletic has a mailbag column where he projects the 2023 lineup and opines on whether the Royals will be active in free agency.

Zack Greinke, Carlos Santana, Andrew Benintendi and Whit Merrifield will no longer be on the books unless Greinke returns for another season. And although Perez and Dozier’s salaries will increase, as well as those for arbitration-eligible players such as Scott Barlow, Keller, Amir Garrett and Josh Staumont, among others (provided they are tendered), there does appear to be a wide gap in what the club spent this season, and what they’re projected to spend in 2023.

Does that mean they’ll go sign a front-line starting pitcher? It’s unlikely, especially with the possibility that the club pursues extensions with young controllable players such as Witt, Brady Singer and others. Still, it does seem as if there would be room to make improvements — especially if owner John Sherman and his investors believe in the front office’s vision for 2023.

David Lesky at Inside the Crown reviews Brad Keller’s relief debut.

So it was a bad outing that could have easily not been as bad, but also Keller didn’t do much to make it easier on his defense behind him.

Here’s what intrigued me, though. He averaged 97.1 MPH on his fastball and touched 98.2 MPH. I’m not giving up on him as a reliever. He has a swing and miss slider when he’s right and if he can live at 97+, it can cover for a few mistakes. It was a terrible first outing out of the bullpen, but if he’s on the team next year, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he’s got 15 saves by the break.

RJ Anderson of CBS Sports ranks the best and worst rebuilds, with the Royals coming in the latter category.

3. Kansas City Royals

We’re fans of Bobby Witt Jr. here, and both M.J. Melendez and Vinnie Pasquantino have shown promise since being promoted to the majors. (Nick Pratto could give the Royals another solid young bat in due time, too.) That said, where’s the pitching? Recent top-10 picks like Asa Lacy and Frank Mozzicato have underwhelmed as professionals, continuing a troubling organizational trend that has seen them waste a lot of premium draft-pick capital on arms who they haven’t been able to develop.

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report compares some of the top Royals prospect lists.

Legalized sports betting is coming to Kansas on September 1, and the Royals are supportive.

Kauffman Stadium was the site for a U.S. citizen naturalization ceremony on Friday.

The Angels activate outfielder Mike Trout.

Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna is arrested on a DUI charge.

Two Dominican Summer League teams combined to give up no hits in a game.

Suspended infielder Fernando Tatis Jr. met with Padres GM A.J. Preller.

Eduardo Rodriguez rejoins the Tigers after missing three months for personal matters.

Why is MLB overturning more plays at the plate?

The Braves are talking about a contract extension with shortstop Dansby Swanson.

Yadier Molina plans to get right into managing once his career is over.

The first integrated Little League game took place 67 years ago.

The best ‘Madden 23’ glitches the internet has to offer

The demise of the Detroit Lions began with the AFL.

Scientists may have found a way to break down “forever chemicals.”

Meta spent $10 billion on the metaverse and it looks fairly underwhelming.

A Ferris Bueller’s Day Off spin-off is in the works.

Your song of the day is Gary Wright with Love is Alive.