Weekend Rumblings - News for September 10, 2022
Are changes coming?
Local kid Joey Wentz had about 40 friends and family in the crowd last night to watch him defeat the Royals.
“I grew up a Royals fan and watched them win the World Series which is super cool, and to be on the field tonight was awesome,” Wentz said...
“My grandpa had Royals tickets since the ‘80s,” Wentz said. “So I’d come out here a lot. It’s definitely special for me to play here.”
Today’s game has been moved up to 3:10 CT due to weather.
David Lesky at Inside the Crown sees a Royals roster that just doesn’t fit together.
They have too many outfielders, too many catchers and too many infielders. But they also don’t have enough starting pitchers or relievers and they don’t have nearly enough certainty at any of the positions where they have too many players. It’s a mess. That mess can be turned into a positive, but it’s a mess.
I want to break this down by position, but that even starts to create a bigger web because this player can play here or there or even over there, which is great, but putting that player there makes that other player move to the other spot, which then displaces a third player and, well, you get it.
Marcus Meade at Royals Farm Report writes what makes prospect Gavin Cross such a good hitter.
Cross has incredible hand eye coordination, and that becomes apparent when you see how frequently he gets the barrel to the ball. Hard hit balls aren’t just a function of strength or bat speed; they’re primarily a function of hand eye coordination. And he’s got a ton of it. In the homerun clip above, you see a fastball that missed the target and was just in off the plate. To be able to get the barrel to that ball is impressive. It’s one thing to hit middle-middle fastballs on the barrel. It’s another to hit balls that are in the shadow of the strike zone. That shows a healthy amount of barrel control, which means he won’t just hit balls hard when they’re down broadway. He can hit balls hard all over the strike zone (and maybe outside of it).
Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter wonders if the Jason Simontacci firing means more changes are coming.
Simontacchi being gone probably signals a desire to change on a pitching end for this Royals organization. And if the Royals feel a change is merited after five years for Simontacchi, it is likely they make think a change is necessary at the Major League level after five years with Eldred as well.
The Royals will probably wait until the end of the season, but it seems likely that an Eldred announcement will come swiftly after the season is over for Kansas City in early October.
Jordan Foote at Inside the Royals wonders if Salvy is back to his 2021 form.
The Rays activate infielder Wander Franco.
The Reds designate outfielder Albert Almora for assignment.
The Yankees honor Derek Jeter for his Hall of Fame induction.
Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron hits the longest home run of the Statcast era.
How the surging Braves caught the Mets in the East.
Dan Syzborski at Fangraphs looks at young Japanese stars Roki Sasaki and Munetaka Murakami.
Albert Pujols is leaving the game on his terms.
MLB voluntarily recognizes minor league players unionizing with the MLBPA.
Former Angels World Series star Scott Spezio is trying to put his life back together after battles with addiction.
With contract negotiations having ended, did the Ravens err in not reaching agreement with Lamar Jackson?
How Serena Williams reshaped tennis forever.
An environmental disaster in Uzbekistan is now a tourist attraction.
Automatic braking vehicle-pedestrian systems still struggle to see people in the dark.
Why Disney didn’t buy Twitter.
Your song of the day is the Georgia Satellites with Keep Your Hands to Yourself.