Royals Rumblings - News for November 10, 2022

The search for a pitching coach continues:

A week later, the Royals have built a list of candidates and plan to begin interviews next week to find a replacement for Cal Eldred, who was dismissed at the end of the season alongside manager Mike Matheny, executive vice president and general manager J.J. Picollo told MLB.com at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The Royals have asked permission to interview candidates from other teams during meetings over the last two days.

“The search is pretty thorough right now,” Picollo said. “It’s very similar to what we did with the managerial position. We know what we want in that position. Now, it’s finding guys who have that background. And the compatibility piece comes into play. Who do we know we can work with that has that working knowledge we’re looking for? We’ll find that out in the interviews next week.”

David Lesky at Inside the Crown ranks his top 15 Royals prospects:

Gavin Cross, OF - The Royals first round pick from this past season probably should have been a level higher, but even so, hitting .293/.423/.596 in A-ball against his first taste of professional pitching was pretty great to see. He also hit .500/.583/1.000 in rookie ball gearing up for his placement, but I’m ignoring that. A 17.9 percent walk rate made the 25.2 percent strikeout rate a little more palatable. His swinging strike rate was 14 percent, which is high, but not insane. He’ll need to improve on that, though. He showed power, some speed and I talked to a scout who doesn’t think he’s a long-term center fielder, but could stay there for at least a few years. My guess is he becomes a very good right fielder, but time will tell on that. My ETA is maybe even a little conservative given that he might start in AA in 2023, but I think unless he can’t be stopped, they’ll keep him down through at least this upcoming season.

Jim Bowden at The Athletic presents offseason needs for each team ($):

Starting pitching, bullpen and a right-handed bat

Free agents: Zack Greinke, RHP

The Royals are under new baseball leadership with executive vice president of baseball operations/GM J.J. Picollo and recently hired manager Matt Quatraro. Kansas City’s main focus is to land at least one veteran starting pitcher, improve the bullpen and add a right-handed power bat.

Transactions!

• Atlanta and Texas swap Jake Odorizzi and Kolby Allard.
• The Dodgers may extend Tyler Anderson a qualifying offer.
• The Edwin Diaz deal is official.
• Texas picked up their option on José Leclerc.
• Tampa Bay placed Nick Anderson on waivers.
• Boston’s James Paxton picked up his option.
• Baltimore declined their option on Jordan Lyles.

The USMNT has announced their World Cup roster.

USF takes the top (bottom?) spot on this week’s College Football Bottom 10.

Brittney Griner is being transferred to a Russian penal colony, per the WNBA star’s attorney.

This week’s rental opportunity is a studio that couldn’t really be called a kitchen or a bedroom on its own.

Legalized recreational cannabis is coming to Missouri.

A solar storm triggered extremely rare pink auras in the skies above Norway.

Twitter scrapped its new “official” checkmark system just hours after launch.

Your song of the day is High (lofi remix) by The Chainsmokers.