Royals Rumblings - News for June 27, 2023

Jaylon Thompson writes about the chemistry between some of the young players.

Taylor and Waters have dynamic chemistry. They sit together in the clubhouse and discuss strategies in the outfield. Their friendship was cultivated in Triple-A and is reaching a new level in the majors.

“I click with Drew pretty well ...” Taylor said. “We are two outgoing guys and it’s been an amazing journey.”

David Lesky at Inside the Crown reviews the weekend series against the Rays.

Another big issue right now, and maybe not for much longer, is Cuas. He’s now come into a game with 31 runners on base and 17 of them have scored. That’s atrocious. He’s also given up 17 of his own runs. I want to love Cuas. The story is just too good. He’s a great guy, by all accounts, but he’s just not good enough. I’m not saying you DFA him, but the Royals have a lot of relief arms working their way to the big leagues, plus some starters like, oh I don’t know, Brady Singer, who may end up in the bullpen and it’s hard to see where there’s room for a guy like him.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN has a mock draft up with the Royals taking prep catcher Blake Mitchell.

I’m hearing the Royals have already narrowed down their list considerably. Meyer is again in play, but any prep righty at this pick will be a tough sell to ownership. I’m also hearing the Royals are in on Mitchell and TCU’s Taylor. Mitchell has some interest in the top 10 but also might fall into the early 20s, so this could be a solid cut to set up later picks akin to the Frank Mozzicato deal in 2021 (although the savings wouldn’t be quite that high).

In a mailbag column, Andy McCullough of The Athletic responds to a question about why the Royals aren’t getting more attention for being so bad.

This is an interesting question that touches on a variety of tributaries. The simplest answer is there is only so much to be said about a bad baseball team, especially one like the Royals, who are bad for the same reasons they were bad last year (and in years prior).

The team staked its rebuild on the 2018 draft, and that turned out to be a flop. Dayton Moore lost his job last fall, and his replacement, J.J. Picollo, has been unable to turn things around completely in a handful of months. It’s going to take quite a while for the Royals to return to contention, and it’s far from guaranteed. That’s mostly just a bummer of a story, you know?

The Royals optioned Nate Eaton to Omaha, presumably to make room for Kyle Isbel’s return.

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman has his takeaways from the series split.

The Orioles sign former Royals catcher Meibrys Viloria to a minor league deal.

Ryne Stanek went berserk after a game-winning balk call.

Baltimore calls up top prospect Jordan Westburg.

Jazz Chisholm rejoins the Marlins after an injury.

The Rangers have interest in Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen.

Bubble teams that could buy or sell at the trade deadline.

The rise of the Orioles and Reds makes it feel like the 1970s again.

The Mets are hitting a new low.

MLB.com looks back at each team’s best trade deadline deal this century.

Julio Teheran lost his velocity, but not his will to compete.

Michael Baumann at Fangraphs visits the MLB draft combine.

San Jose wants territorial restrictions lifted so they can pursue the Athletics.

LSU crushes Florida to win their seventh College World Series.

Connor McDavid wins his third Hart Trophy for being NHL MVP.

Where will Damian Lillard end up?

Why do we think we’re younger than we are?

What do we know about Area 51?

Your song of the day is Temple of the Dog with Say Hello 2 Heaven.