Royals Rumblings - News for May 10, 2024
These Rumblings were completed long before last night’s game
Jeremy Guthrie is still pitching! Well, sort of. A few years ago, Max documented his baseball work in Nigeria. At MLB.com, David Venn writes about his travels to Spain:
“I feel passionately about it because I lived there,” said Guthrie of Spain, where he spent time in five different cities in the north of the country during his mission between 1998 and 2000. “I have a deep connection to the people and to the culture.”
...On his trip to Spain this month, Guthrie and the group representing the MLBPA Alumni Legends will conduct five clinics — one each in Pamplona, Cataluña, Asturias, Galicia and Madrid.
“This one is just to try to build awareness of baseball and softball in Spain, and to give them instruction that would encourage them to continue to play and practice the sport,” Guthrie said of his efforts in the country, which qualified for its first World Baseball Classic in 2013 and looks to get back there in 2026. “I’m just there to support the passionate coaches and organizers that live there and are building baseball on a day-to-day basis. It happens in small pockets and then collectively it happens in the Spanish Baseball Federation based in Madrid. My hope is just to continue to be a presence. My hope is that it would grow in Spain as it has in other countries.”
At The Star, Pete Grathoff writes about how the Royals are doing well in close games:
The Royals have a 13-12 record in such games, a vast improvement over the 2023 season. They were 36-65 in such games a year ago (.356). Their success in the first quarter of the season is reflected in their improvement in tight games.
Quatraro said those close contests have helped the Royals, who have a 22-16 record and are in second place in the American League Central division.
“That builds some trust in each other, that builds character,” he said. “And when you do that, you’re going to need your whole roster, because you can’t use the same guys every night. You’re going to be in different situations and pinch run and pinch hit. Everybody’s got to be engaged the whole time.”
Honestly, 13-12 is about .500 in close games, which is what you should be if you’re a .500 team, right? That’s a good thing, methinks.
Also at The Star, Joseph Hernandez writes about how the team is doing outreach in the Hispanic community:
It’s all a part of their “Nos Vemos En El K” initiative, with the help from Fresco Marketing, a Kansas City-based multicultural marketing company.
The team gave away 1,000 free tickets to fans during the three-day festival, according to Sinhue Mendoza, Fresco Marketing’s marketing manager.
“We’re incredibly excited to work with Fresco Marketing as we work to further our support of the Hispanic community,” Tony Snethen, vice president of brand innovation for the Royals, said in a statement. “The Royals are such an important part of the community and it’s vital that everyone feels welcome, feels seen, and feels represented, and this partnership is an opportunity to continue fulfilling that promise.”
Hey, remember many moons ago (it was last Friday) when we linked to a story about STAR bonds being risky? Investigative reporter Jonathan Shorman at The Star has a long, in-depth story about just that very thing:
Some Kansas lawmakers want to use STAR bonds to finance new stadiums for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals. After Jackson County voters rejected a county sales tax for the teams in April, a Kansas proposal would authorize STAR bonds with 30-year terms to pay up to 100% of the cost of building a new stadium across the state line.
Fully financing a Chiefs stadium could mean issuing $2-3 billion in STAR bonds, and potentially $1.5 billion to $2 billion for the Royals. Never before have STAR bonds of that size been issued. As of 2020, $1.1 billion total in STAR bonds had been issued in total, according to a state audit. The Chiefs-Royals proposal could triple that. It is far from certain whether such a massive project could pay for itself solely with sales tax revenue.
At The Athletic, Zack Meisel and Cody Stavenhagen write about how the AL Central might actually be good:
The Royals’ emergence has been instrumental in restoring credibility to the division. Late last July, their rebuild was stalled, their path forward uncertain. They stood at 28-73.
“Ouch. Really?” questioned Royals pitching coach Brian Sweeney, when reminded of that number.
“Is that what we were?” asked Royals manager Matt Quatraro.
Now they’re within shouting distance of that win total through the first six weeks of this season.
“We took our lumps,” Sweeney said. “We learned a lot.”
Also at The Athletic, Brittany Ghiroli writes about how former Omaha Storm Chaser (and 8 year MLB player) Travis Snider is trying to change the culture of youth sports:
Snider, now a 36-year-old father of three, hopes to dedicate his post-playing career to breaking that cycle. Last spring he launched 3A Athletics, a company focused on fixing the broken culture of youth sports through a curriculum geared at helping parents, coaches, and athletes. Still in its early stages, 3A offers interactive guidebooks for baseball, softball and soccer, with other sports in the works. The company will also have athlete journals available later this month.
Baseball is grappling with unprecedented pitching injury rates trickling down to youth sports, but the rising number of 11 and 12-year-olds who are undergoing Tommy John ligament replacement surgery isn’t the sport’s only concern. A 2024 study by the American Association of Pediatrics found about 70 percent of participants drop out of youth sports by age 13, citing things like burnout and overtraining in addition to injuries.
“We’re so focused on performance, we’ve lost focus on allowing our kids to develop first as human beings, and I was a product of that,” Snider said. “How we parent our kids in youth sports will have lasting effects on them.”
Another old friend alert. When the Rangers signed Kyle Barraclough yesterday, they released Danny Duffy from AAA Round Rock.
Blog time. And a rather robust one, at that.
David Lesky ($) with his usual deep dive at Inside the Crown:
I also want to point out Garcia’s last few weeks. He went 1 for 4 with that first inning double and a walk. Since his long hitless streak ended at the start of the last homestand against Baltimore, he’s hit .303/.365/.408 with a 9.4 percent walk rate and 14.1 percent strikeout rate. That will play. Even though Salvador Perez got the day off yesterday, when you add in Michael Massey and his .281/.283/.491 line (that OBP has to come up, but just one walk and the beautiful sacrifice flies hurt it) in the fifth spot, you probably feel pretty decent about this offense from one through five. They simply have to get one or two people going at some point or make a move to get someone in who can jumpstart that bottom half. They’ve survived (and maybe more than survived to this point), but they need more margin for error.
Speaking of deep dives, Craig Brown looks at McArthur’s 9th on Wednesday:
Funny how baseball works, isn’t it? Less than 24 hours after taking the loss, McArthur is back out there, again facing William Contreras in the ninth inning. When Contreras dug into the box on Tuesday, there were two outs in the ninth and the Brewers had a scant one percent chance to win the game. The Milwaukee catcher doubled, which opened the floodgates to a disaster loss for the Royals.
I’m not sure you could find a higher leverage situation for a pitcher than what McArthur faced in the ninth inning on Wednesday. Duffey had walked the first two batters he faced—an awful start to the ninth inning for a club still nursing the hangover of the previous night’s defeat—and then gave up a double to Brice Turang to score one, put runners on second and third and draw the score to 6-3.
At Farm to Fountains, Preston Farr has a “May Update” for the top prospect list:
The Kansas City Royals farm system is on the rise after a couple of down years. They ranked at or near the bottom in just about every farm system ranking over the last two seasons since the graduations of Top 100 prospects Bobby Witt Jr., MJ Melendez, and others. The way back has been slow, but only because of the time needed for prospects to prove themselves in the system. Catcher Blake Mitchell has started to make a name for himself as a true top prospect — not just for the Royals but amongst the entire minor leagues.
Beyond Mitchell, others such as Ben Kudrna, Steven Zobac, and Hunter Patteson have continued to take steps forward in their development. Kansas City’s revamped pitching development, led by Paul Gibson at the top, has made fantastic promise system-wide. Not only are the team’s starting pitchers dominating in the big leagues, but they’re doing so throughout the minor leagues as well.
There are still questions to be answered, such as Frank Mozzicato’s velocity and whether Carson Roccaforte’s batted ball data can finally shine through in the box score. Regardless, it’s clear that the talent in the Royals’ farm system is on an upward trend. They’ll get a chance to add to that talent this summer in the draft. Kansas City owns the sixth overall pick and could get a chance to add yet another premium prospect alongside Blake Mitchell to truly lead the farm system even further up the farm system rankings.
At U.L.’s Toothpick, Darin Watson diligently continues his march through 1984. The Royals lost, but his MLB note shows that baseball 40 years ago was just a different sport:
1984 baseball news: In Chicago, the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox completed (at last!) the longest game in major-league history, a 7-6 win for the White Sox in a mind-blowing 25 innings. The game actually began on May 8, was suspended at 1:05 am on May 9 after 17 innings had been completed, and was finished that afternoon before the two teams’ regularly scheduled game. Harold Baines ended the festivities with a walkoff home run off Milwaukee’s sixth pitcher of the game, Chuck Porter. The game was tied at 3-3 after nine innings; neither team scored again until the 21st, when, incredibly, each team scored three runs. Tom Seaver picked up the win by pitching the final inning; Seaver then pitched 8 ⅓ innings in the next game to earn another win. Total game time for the marathon was eight hours and six minutes.
Blog Roundup:
- Kevin O’Brien at The Royals Reporter: “KC Chase to the Pennant”: Hitting Struggles; Pitching Development; When Do Royals Look to Trade?
- Patrick Glancy at Powder Blue Nostalgia: Divorce, MLB Style (also, a personal bit from Patrick - well worth the read, like always)
- Mike Gillespie at KOK: It was bad news, good news, some news for former KC Royals Wednesday
- Jacob Milham at KOK: Bleacher Report floats high-risk, high-reward trade for KC Royals outfield
- Joe Summers at KCK: Royals Named Ideal Landing Spot for Star Marlins Outfielder
- Also Joe at KCK: Royals Must Act Now With Inevitable Roster Move
- Hunter Samuels at Swinging Bunts (a couple days old): Win - Lose - Rain: Lugo, Ohtani’s Opponents, Momentum
We’re going to try something crazy today. Our off-topic story is going to be about... baseball.
This past week, my boss has been out, which has allowed me to be a lot more productive than usual. I’ve been able to catch up quite a bit: my work inbox is below 50 for the first time in months! This also means I’ve also had a little time at lunch and other times around the hourglass to take care of some other tasks.
I was cleaning out some old magazines when I ran across a 2019 AAA Texas magazine with an article about Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos. I had never heard of this team before and since I’m into writing about international baseball (sort of), this piqued my interest. Now I have a new baseball bucket list item and it’s only a few hours away from home.
I’m going to let that wiki link about start us off:
The Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos (English: Two Laredos Owls)... are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and also a Minor League Baseball team based in Laredo, Texas. The Tecolotes are a binational baseball team, splitting their home games between Mexico and the United States. Their home games in Mexico are played at Parque la Junta, while their home games in the United States are played at Uni-Trade Stadium. They are the only Mexican League team to play outside of Mexico.
Wait? So I can go see Mexican league games and not even have to cross the border?
Like the aforementioned AAA magazine article from Jim Benning, most articles about the team seem contractually obligated to use some sort of phrasing about “Two Countries, One Team” like this one from Leif Skodnick of World Baseball Network (which has a couple of Royals mentions):
When Geoff Broussard got to the mound to start the ninth, the Tecos had a 2-1 lead, with both runs coming on solo home runs to left field – one by first baseman Balbino Fuenmayor, a Venezuelan who made it as far as Triple-A in the Kansas City Royals organization, in the second, and another by outfielder Danry Vasquez, a Dominican who made it as high as Double-A in the Houston Astros organization, in the third...
There are some big-name players who have appeared in the LMB this year, including former New York Yankees infielder Didi Gregorious, who was with the Algodoneros de Union Laguna before signing a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners, and Alcides Escobar, the former Kansas City Royal who’s been playing for the Leones de Yucatan and Acereros de Monclova in 2023.
Another from Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles times (via Yahoo) talks about the difficulties of this arrangement:
In fact, during most of the past four decades, the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos, who play in the Mexican summer league, have split their home games between Texas and Tamaulipas, making it the only fully binational professional baseball team in the world. But that history was threatened last fall when the Laredo City Council declined to renew the Tecos’ contract at Uni-Trade Stadium, the team’s home in the U.S., citing the need for $8.6 million worth of renovations to the city-owned ballpark.
Enter Treviño, a supporter of baseball in Laredo, who easily won a runoff for mayor a week before Christmas. A month later he presided over a City Council meeting packed with fans, including children dressed in Tecos’ uniforms, who demanded the council do something. So in February, the team and city reached agreement on a contract for 2023, clearing the way for the Tecos to play 22 home games in the U.S. this season, one fewer than it will play in Mexico.
“At the end of the day, the idea was it’s not about money. It’s about what the team signifies to us as a culture. And people wanted that,” said Treviño, 75, a physician and newcomer to elected office. “They represent our people. This is the brand of Laredo.
Remember that “Two Nations, One Team” thing above? Ah:
Baseball wouldn’t return to the two Laredos until 2018, when José Antonio Mansur, owner of the Veracruz Eagles, moved the team to Nuevo Laredo and announced plans to play half the team’s games in the U.S. Mansur had the team’s logo redesigned as well; it now features the number 2 wrapped around an “L”, with elements from both countries’ flags. The team’s Spanish-language slogan, ubiquitous around the ballpark, reads “Dos Naciones, Un Equipo” — “Two Nations, One Team.”
Looking at this year’s roster, using b-r, there appear to be 3 current players who were in the Royals system at one time. Infielder Jose Martinez made it to Idaho Falls before going to the St. Louis system and topping out in AAA. He is not to be confused with this José Martínez, who also happened to play with the Royals and Cardinals at about the same time. They are both from Venezuela, but the one on the Tecolotes is about 8 years younger and a switch hitter (the jokes write themselves). RP Arnaldo Hernandez appeared on a number of prospect lists in the late 2010s, but never made it past AAA. Most notable is Royals reliever Kevin McCarthy, who pitched in 169 games for the Royals from 2016-2020. He started 17 games for Dos Laredos last year and is pitching for them again this year.
Now this is where it gets tricky for me. I’m trying to figure out how to look at the schedule and get tickets. If I’m going to drive 6 hours, I’d kindof like to have tickets in hand before I get there. My Spanish is sub-par, but armed with Google Translate, I though I could mostly get the job done. I started off at the team website. They have top menu items for Estadios (Stadiums) and Boletos (Tickets). The stadium link wasn’t helpful. The tickets link takes you to a website called boletomóvil (which translates to “mobile ticket”). However, they only show one game and that is for tonight’s (Thursday) game in Nuevo Laredo. Hm...
At age 37, Alcides Escobar is still in the league. He plays for Tigres de Quintana Roo. On their website, they have a Calendario page with the entire season schedule. On their Boletos page, I can get tickets for the next couple of weeks.
Ooh - that’s an idea. I searched for Calendario for the Tecolotes and found this 2024 schedule in a news article. It looks like, for most series, they play 1 game in Laredo and 2 in Nuevo Laredo or vice versa. The next Laredo game isn’t until the 17th. So maybe, since buying tickets in advance isn’t a big thing, the next games haven’t hit the ticket website yet.
Looks like the season ends August 1st with the playoffs going into mid-September. I guess that makes sense when the average high in July and August is over 100 and even June is 99. Maybe this will be a “next year” thing - a nice road trip in April or May.
I’ve slighted Final Fantasy VIII in this space. There’s too much good music for me to only have revisited the game a couple of times. I originally talked about the game here and used the Garden Battle scene. And then revisited it in 2021 for the ballroom Waltz. But that was almost 3 years ago. Somehow, I’ve never gotten around to Liberi Fatali, one of the more iconic songs in the entire Final Fantasy oeuvre: