Royals Rumblings - News for August 3, 2023

Anne Rogers on Tuesday’s trades of Barlow and Yarbrough:

The key was Williams, the Padres third-round pick out of Duke in last season’s Draft. The 21-year-old is coming off of Tommy John surgery that he underwent before the 2022 Draft and has a 5.74 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate in 12 starts with the Padres’ Single-A affiliate.

“Being a top 10 prospect, they certainly didn’t have to give him up,” Picollo said. “I know they liked Scott, not just this year, but in the past, they’ve tried to pursue Scott. We knew that was a team that would probably hang in there with us. Williams was the guy that we thought was in the range of what we wanted in return. Rios is a nice piece to add to the deal and make it complete.”

She also has more on the prospects acquired in the deals:

The Royals were looking for right-handed bats to complement the lefty-heavy group of hitters they have in the Major Leagues. They acquired outfielder Nelson Velázquez from the Cubs on Monday, and he’ll join Triple-A as well. Mann, 26, has appeared in 89 games for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate, posting a .943 OPS with 33 doubles and 14 home runs. The Royals believe he has a chance to help the club next year in a utility role.

“He’s a right-handed hitter with a simple approach,” Picollo said. “We think just because of that versatility, he can potentially help us.”

Dan Szymborski has thoughts on the Yarbrough deal:

Mann has been solid for Triple-A Oklahoma City, but he was without an obvious path to playing time with the Dodgers. Except for hitting right-handed, he’s not all that different from what Max Muncy looked like six or seven years ago. He could get playing time in the majors pretty quickly, or at least he should; he’s not a young player, so if he’s going to have a time, it’s going to have to be very soon. If I’m the Royals, I might just stuff him in various places in the lineup this year. This might be blasphemy, but if the organization doesn’t really consider MJ Melendez a catcher, Mann is the more valuable player. Figueroa is a “wait-and-see” guy, down in the Anterior Cruciate Ligament Arizona Complex League, and so far off that the Royals aren’t likely to include him in any immediate plans.

Moving on to Substack, Craig Brown at Into the Fountains breaks down Kansas City’s deadline:

A Perez trade at the deadline was always going to be a longshot, simply due to the complexity of any deal (including Perez needing to approve a trade as a 10-5 player) and the volume of activity in the final days. If the Royals are serious about trading Perez (and they should be very serious), this kind of deal would go down in the offseason, sometime around the Winter Meetings.

Picollo also said there was interest in Zack Greinke. Presumably, that was one that developed very late in the day and with Greinke’s no-trade clause, there would’ve needed to be some more involved discussions. Besides, I can’t imagine the return for Greinke being that great at this stage, and as he said after the game he likes it here, so it’s not surprising the Royals decided to hold.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, who broke the Yarbrough and Barlow trades, reported earlier in the day that in addition to the two aforementioned pitchers, the Royals were also taking calls on Taylor Clarke and Edward Olivares. Again, it’s difficult to think the proposed deals for either were that enticing. This is where the Royals are as an organization—willing to sell, but with assets that hold little or no appeal to the rest of the league.

David Lesky does the same at Inside the Crown:

In the end, the Royals traded Aroldis Chapman, Nicky Lopez, Jose Cuas, cash, Ryan Yarbrough and Scott Barlow for Cole Ragans, Roni Cabrera, Taylor Hearn (still ugh), Nelson Velazquez, Tucker Davidson (didn’t even mention him, but he’s a sort of interesting flyer), Mann, Figueroa, Williams and Rios. On the whole, I like the haul. Chapman was the closest to an impact deal and I’m at least curious to see what Ragans can do and Cabrera is an interesting lottery ticket.

For all the hoopla over looking for big league ready talent, I think the Royals did a nice job of diversifying their returns. Ragans is obviously a big leaguer. Hearn is at least big league depth until he’s cut loose and Velazquez and Davidson have been big leaguers (and I think Davidson is out of options, so he’ll need to be on the big league roster). I believe Mann could be up soon, but Figueroa, Williams and Rios are a couple dream on along with Cabrera. I would have liked to see maybe one more move, but all in all, I do think it was a solid deadline. I wanted to see a monster month of trades, but if I have to give it a letter grade, I’d go B- and that’s enough to put the pitchforks away from the other day and see what the offseason will bring.

Following their deadline selloff, the Mets are the most incomplete team money can buy.

MLBTR fills you in on how teams can still acquire players with the trade deadline passed.

Framber Valdez’s no-hitter on Tuesday night was the most efficient since 1999.

In various injury news:

• Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette heads to the IL with a knee injury.
• Cubs starter Marcus Stroman heads to the IL with a hip injury.
• White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks will likely be out until 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
• Oakland starter James Kaprielian underwent season-ending shoulder surgery.

Yankees starter Domingo Germán is placed on the restricted list after entering treatment for alcohol abuse.

Nickelodeon will air an alternate telecast of Super Bowl 58 next February.

I implore you not to heat plastic containers in the microwave. I’ve been on Team Glass Tupperware for a long time now, partially for this reason (the other main reason being they don’t permanently turn orange after putting Bolognese sauce in them).

It turns out paving over everything makes heat waves worse. Who would have thought?

Nostalgia is not at all a new or recent phenomenon - in fact, it’s a hardwired and healthy human response.

Your song of the day is Help by Sullivan King and Grabbitz.