Royals Rumblings - News for September 7, 2022

Anne Rogers has more on the $100 bet between Zack Greinke and Drew Waters, where Greinke wagered Waters wouldn’t hit a homer all season:

According to Waters, who told the story after the Royals’ 6-5 loss in 10 innings to the Guardians, Greinke bet Waters shortly after he was called up that the rookie wouldn’t hit a home run for “the rest of the season.”

“I was like, ‘All right, I hope he’s not putting the bad juju on me,’” Waters said. “But as soon as I went deep, that was the one guy I was looking for in the dugout. He actually wasn’t in the dugout, but as soon as he came back in, I was sure to go up to him and tell him he owed me a hundred.”

Greinke hasn’t paid up yet, Waters said, but the veteran pitcher — who’s slated to come off the IL and start on Wednesday — did mention the wager when Waters found him in the dugout.

“He was like, ‘That’s awesome, nice swing. I owe you,’” Waters said. “... I’m sure I’ll get a small piece of his fortune.”

Additionally, Rogers explored what Carlos Hernández’s role is going forward:

But there is something to how his stuff plays up in short stints, and how his personality fits into the bullpen mentality of throwing multiple days a week and giving everything in that one- or two-inning stint. Starters have to manage their effort across what they hope is a six-inning outing or more. The focus, routine and preparation is different than a reliever.

Hernández, an easygoing person who is always on the go, likes that difference.

“I like it a lot,” Hernández said. “It works better for me. It’s different, but it’s good. The preparation is different, trying to be ready every time they call you, that is fun for me.”

This is huge: more than 50% of minor league players have signed union authorization cards from the MLB Players Association. Evan Drellich at The Athletic reported this news and much more:

In just a week-and-a-half’s time, more than 50 percent of minor leaguers have returned signed union authorization cards, Major League Baseball Players Association officials told The Athletic. Now, with that majority’s support, the MLBPA has taken another significant step: it has asked MLB and the 30 teams to formally recognize the MLBPA as the minor leaguers’ collective bargaining representatives, Players Association officials said.

MLBPA deputy executive director Bruce Meyer made that request for voluntary recognition in a letter sent to deputy MLB commissioner Dan Halem on Tuesday morning. The Players Association sent over what’s known as a card-check agreement, where the league would agree to voluntary recognition, contingent on independent verification of the cards. From here, the next move might belong to commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners, who have yet to publicly comment on the fast-moving unionization effort. MLB did not immediately return a request for comment from The Athletic on Tuesday.

David Lesky talked to a scout who saw some Royals prospects at Single-A, including this on Gavin Cross:

He called the swing a “ten-time All Star swing” and thought in the small sample he saw that some of the contact questions were a little overrated. He was very impressed with his quick swing and believes it might take some tweaks to access big power, but he could see a couple 28-35 home run seasons with him settling in the low-20s as a higher average bat. He was a little disappointed that Cross walked six times in the three games because he didn’t get to see him swing the bat as much, but he felt that at least two of the walks were on his plate discipline and not simply bad pitching. Cross wasn’t really tested in center field, but he looked the part. Maybe he’s not quite fast enough to stick there in Kauffman Stadium, but he won’t hurt you. He compared it to Max Kepler’s ability to play center.

Well this is absurd:

The Yankees placed Anthony Rizzo on the IL, and recalled Ronald Guzmán. I recently photographed Guzmán thusly:

New stars just dropped:

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McDonald’s has a cheese danish coming soon.

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