Weekend Rumblings - News for October 7, 2023

Anne Rogers recaps J.J. Picollo’s press conference this week, including a potential extension for Bobby Witt Jr.

Picollo has long made it clear that the Royals hope to extend Witt, who will be a free agent in 2028, and conversations with Witt and his representation will likely be a priority this winter.

But Picollo didn’t say much more than the Royals are working on it.

“We would be foolish to not try to sign him long term,” Picollo said. “We are working on that. I don’t really want to comment on it more than, ‘That’s a goal of ours.’ It would be exciting to do so. He’s a special player. We want to try to keep special players in our uniform.”

David Lesky at Inside the Crown writes about extending Bobby.

This is the best-case scenario, I believe, and the one that I think will ultimately happen for a number of reasons. But something that I think is interesting here is that I don’t think there’s a middle ground in terms of the length of the deal. This isn’t saying something I’ve never said before, but my thought is the Royals would be hard-pressed to sign him to a nine or 10-year deal, at least not straight nine or 10 years. Why is that? Look at his age. Witt just played his age-23 season. As it stands right now, he’s on track to hit free agency after his age-27 season. That’s the sweet spot for any player and especially a star.

Trey Donovan at Kings of Kauffman writes why Kyle Isbel is likely to be the centerfielder next year.

The first reason is that he is one of the best defensive centerfielders in baseball. For centerfielders with 700+ innings in the field, Isbel ranks 3rd on the list in defensive runs saved with 13, behind Brenton Doyle of the Colorado Rockies with 19 and Kevin Kiermaier of the Toronto Blue Jays with 18. Both of which will probably be nominated for the Gold Glove.

Joey Votto plans to play in 2024.

Billy Eppler resigns as Mets GM amid an MLB investigation he abused the injured list.

Ranking potential World Series matchups.

The free agents whose stock could rise in the playoffs.

A Juan Soto trade is not off the table, according to GM A.J. Preller.

Why the Rays can’t seem to draw fans to playoff games despite their success.

Kyle Tucker was a scoring change away from a 30/30 season.

A look at minor league ballpark factors.

Nobody on ESPN is promoting baseball playoff games on their channel.

How scammers got people to bet on a fake Indian cricket league.

The Gallaudet football team will have new helmet to help relay plays for the hearing impaired.

China is taking back all its pandas.

The FCC is now fining companies that don’t take care of their space debris.

TikTok influencers are making money pushing potentially dangerous health trends.

Your song of the day is Paul Simon with You Can Call Me Al.