Weekend Rumblings - News for November 16, 2024

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Royals legends get honored by the NLBM.

David Lesky considers trading Freddy Fermin.

It makes some sense because the Royals have Luca Tresh close to ready to be a backup catcher in the big leagues. Aside from him, they have Jensen working his way through the system and Mitchell not far behind him. There should theoretically be a market for a guy like Fermin, who is an outstanding defender, has a track record of hitting well enough to start (as long as the last two months were a fluke) and is pretty inexpensive while he has plenty of team control.

I can think of only a handful of teams that wouldn’t be interested in Fermin as someone to catch at least half the games. That leaves a lot of possibilities for him. The issue that I keep coming back to, though, is how much can the Royals actually get for him. Because the issue with trading Fermin is that the Royals need him. Salvador Perez doesn’t catch every day anymore, and he shouldn’t. Fermin ended the season with the 29th-most plate appearances as a catcher, just 73 fewer than Perez.

The Negro League Baseball Museum will honor Royals greats Hal McRae, John Mayberry, Amos Otis, Willie Wilson and Frank White in the Hall of Game tonight.

“[The Monarchs] began the legacy of great Black and brown ballplayers in Kansas City,” Kendrick said. “As the Negro Leagues ultimately met its demise and Major League Baseball made its way into Kansas City, this core group of guys who played in the 1970s and ‘80s, they presented — in my eyes — that legacy that began with the Monarchs.

“The ‘70s and ‘80s for the Royals were their heyday. We know about the great rivalry they had with the Yankees and they were able to break through in ‘80 and beat the Yankees [in the American League Championship Series]. This was our opportunity to connect the legacy of the Monarchs with the legacy of some of Kansas City’s greatest Black baseball royalty, as I like to call them.”

Preston Farr at Farm to Fountains looks back at the Royals’ 2021 draft class.

The book is still out on this group, mostly due to the number of prep prospects that fell in this range. The Royals notably went underslot with Mozzicato at seventh overall. Those savings allowed them to sign both Kudrna and Jensen away from commitments to Louisiana State. To this point, Jensen has found the most success. He’s playing in this year’s Fall League and has been fantastic thus far. He is currently the highest ranked prospect from this group, coming in at no. 9 on our 2024 end of year rankings.

Kudrna represented the Royals at the 2024 Futures Game but has pitched to mix results in the minor leagues thus far. In 2024 he struggled to a 5.29 FIP with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. That’s better than Frank Mozzicato has fared, sadly. Mozzicato has yet to pitch above High-A. He pitched to a solid 3.45 ERA with High-A Quad Cities in 2024 but a 4.72 FIP and a low 21.3% strikeout rate both give signs of worse results on the horizon.

Rachael Millanta at Kings of Kauffman considers a trade with the Diamondbacks.

Chris Sale and Garrett Crochet are named Major League Baseball’s Comeback Players of the Year.

Atlanta is interested in free agent pitcher Walker Buehler.

The Blue Jays are pursuing Juan Soto, but won’t spent big unless they land him.

Pitcher Cole Irvin is headed to Korea.

Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol has shoulder surgery and will miss the start of next season.

The Orioles will bring in the left field fence at Camden Yards.

The Giants hire former outfielder Randy Winn for their front office.

Did WAR ruin the MVP conversation?

The Pirates are offering a bonanza to any fan that wants to trade a rare Paul Skenes baseball card.

A Houston group reveals a $1 billion plan to redevelop the Astrodome.

The Jake Paul, Mike Tyson fight breaks the record for the biggest boxing gate outside of Las Vegas.