Royals Rumblings - News for August 22, 2023

Sam McDowell and Vahe Gregorian talk to John Sherman about the stadium timeline, future payrolls, and this year’s team.

This year certainly has taught me that we did exactly the thing we needed to do this year. It’s been painful. But I own it. This process and where we are is exactly what we should have done. I think we were fooling ourselves. … This isn’t throwing anybody under the bus. I think we did not come to grips with where we are and were fooling ourselves. And now, we kind of know where we are. Perhaps I wish it was something else. But I feel really, really good about our processes. I feel good about our leadership — you know, (general manager) J.J. (Picollo) and Q (manager Matt Quatraro).

I’m not going to overreact to a couple of weeks here, but I think it’s really more indicative of a young core developing, and it’s something I’m actually getting pretty excited about. We obviously still have holes. You know, the infield looks great; we have some young guys starting to hit the ball. We need more pitching depth. But I’m actually pretty excited about where we are and really grateful that we’re going through the tough stuff that we’ve gone through.

The Royals will present renderings and economic data on the two potential ballpark sites today.

Anne Rogers has an update on Zack Greinke, who could return today.

The Royals are still discussing options internally and with Greinke regarding whether he will start or if the team will use an opener, something they’ve discussed previously with the veteran starter. Lefty Angel Zerpa is scheduled to start Tuesday’s game, but that could change.

“We’re going to have that conversation today,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “It just depends on how far we think he can go, and whether that’s better suited to be opened for or actually start the game.”

David Lesky at Inside the Crown reviews the weekend, including another solid start from Cole Ragans.

The line wasn’t terribly special for Ragans with three runs allowed in six innings, but I alluded earlier that he was let down a bit by his defense in that fourth inning. He gave up some hard contact in that inning, but it could have been less than three runs. Still, overall, he was excellent. He threw a career-high 106 pitches and what was so intriguing were pitches 105 and 106. His penultimate pitch was a called strike at 97.7 MPH. Then he ended his outing with a 98.4 MPH fastball that he sent right by Patrick Wisdom.

Yep, his last two pitches were his seventh-hardest and second-hardest pitches thrown respectively in the entire game. For a time, he was throwing more changeups than fastballs again, which is what he did in his last start, but you could start to see the confidence in the fastball rising as the game was going on. His velocity was excellent, not just on those final pitches, but all game.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN has the Royals’ farm system #26 in his updated rankings.

I generally don’t love the approach of taking a non-consensus prep talent in the top 10 picks and then spending the savings on even more risky prep prospects after that. The Royals did it in 2021 and again in 2023. Considering those contrarian moves against the backdrop of a bottom-five farm system and the second-worst record in baseball makes you wonder what the plan is.

Darin Watson at UL’s Toothpick writes about the Royals drug scandal from 1983.

Julio Rodriguez has pulled Seattle back from the brink.

Jose Oquendo was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame.

The Guardians claim catcher Eric Haase off waivers from the Tigers.

The Nationals will reportedly extend manager Dave Martinez and GM Mike Rizzo.

Orioles owner John Angelos says they will have to dramatically raise ticket prices to pay for young stars.

The Brewers made a great trade last off-season that is paying dividends.

The White Sox may be eyeing a new stadium once their lease is done.

Who is the most average hitter in the league?

How can the Yankees focus on 2024?

Michigan has self-imposed a ban on coach Jim Harbaugh of three games for violations during the pandemic.

The Colts give running back Jonathan Taylor permission to seek a trade.

“Forever chemicals” are everywhere - what are they doing to us?

Why does Netflix keep churning out action movie knockoffs?

Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, is stepping away from the character.

Your song of the day is Mary J. Blige with Real Love.