Royals Rumblings - News for February 15, 2023

New manager Matt Quatraro is making Royals players feel at ease, reports Anne Rogers:

“He just shows up, and you don’t really notice he’s there until he’s there,” said Nicky Lopez, one of many position players already at the Royals’ facility. “He just lets us be ourselves, and it’s very loose. We have a really young team with guys with a lot of personality. He lets them show it. Be who you are. It’s been really nice.”

Quatraro spent the winter months calling players not only to introduce himself and learn about his new team but also to listen to what they wanted from a manager and coaching staff. Those calls resonated with the younger players especially, who feel like they can have a voice on the team.

“He just kind of says, ‘It’s y’all’s team,’” Bobby Witt Jr. said. “So whatever we think we need, just reach out to him, which really says a lot. Just to say that, asking younger guys what they think, is really cool.”

David Lesky did an updated roster projection for position players, including leaving Freddy Fermin off the big league roster:

I just needed to make a decision, so I decided that the Royals will not start the year with Freddy Fermin on the active roster. It’s a risk for any individual game if something happens, but they’ll just need to cover a few innings before they can call Fermin up. I think the plan is going to be for Salvy to play basically two-thirds of the game behind the plate and DH the rest and with MJ Melendez capable of coming in from the outfield and the likely “regular” DH being an outfielder, I think this will work out pretty well in terms of playing time. Where things will get iffy is if certain prospects start knocking on the door, but that’s a good problem to have.

Craig Brown asked five questions about Spring Training, including how the 10 guys who will miss some ST for the World Baseball Classic will be affected:

With young players like Melendez, Pasquantino and Witt, it’s not really ideal that they’re missing a chunk of this camp. The same could be said with a guy like Singer, who could use every minute of time he can get with new pitching coaches Sweeney and Bove. And Perez needs to be working with Hoover and those pitching coaches as well.

Here’s a new scholarly paper about how taxpayer-funded sports stadiums are a scam. Here’s the abstract:

This article is intended to inform public policy regarding stadium subsidies, which state and local governments routinely provide to support professional sports teams. We review theoretical and empirical evidence regarding economic justifications for public funding, focusing on recent research and contemporary development strategies, which continue to demonstrate that stadiums are poor public investments. Our analysis includes a history of US major-league professional sports stadiums, documenting trends in building and funding, which portend a forthcoming wave of new costly stadium construction. Despite robust contrary evidence that stadiums are not economic development catalysts, public outlays persist and exhibit a positive growth trajectory. We examine reasons for the disconnect between research and policy, which includes political and institutional factors not previously given due consideration by economists. We suggest ways that researchers may influence media coverage and policymaking regarding stadium subsidies to promote sound policy.

Why did I place that in the Royals section? Who knows?

At Baseball America ($), Gavin Cross believes he can provide strong offensive blend.

The Padres signed Michael Wacha for up to four years and $24 million.

Negro Leagues data and player pages are now available on FanGraphs!

Part of the pitch clock enforcement means a crackdown on balks.

The Angels seem to be shifting back toward a five-man rotation, with a sixth starter more in flux.

Former Major Leaguer John Jaso retired to go be a man of the sea.

Rihanna’s halftime performance (which the Chiefs players didn’t get to watch) drew more viewers than the Super Bowl itself, per Fox Sports.

JuJu Smith-Schuster Tweeted a Valentine that was perhaps in poor taste, and AJ Brown responded, and we’ve got ourselves some DRAMA!

Not a slideshow: 10 tips before starting a big home renovation.

Is it important that Emily Ratajkowski and Eric Andre are now officially a couple? No, but they both looked great in the (tasteful but NSFW) Instagram post that revealed the relationship, so here we are.

A fun collection of stories from Ask A Manager about how bonkers things can get with office coffee culture, like a $15,000 coffee fund.

Residents near East Palestine, Ohio, are finding dead animals around even as officials say it’s safe to return. They’re probably fine, it’s not like citizens have ever been lied to about the scope of a chemical disaster before.

Today’s fun question is borrowed from Twitter instead of the usual Reddit: what’s a conspiracy theory that you 100% buy into? Someone mentioned one about Cal Ripken, Jr. that is new to me!

SOTD: Less Than Jake - The Ghosts of Me and You