Weekend Rumblings - News for February 8, 2025

0 7

Yesterday 15:00

Photo by William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

How will the outfield shake out?

Dan Szymborski at Fangraphs writes that the Royals missed an opportunity to improve the outfield.

We have position-specific data going back to 2002, so starting in that year, I looked at the positional WAR for every single team that made the playoffs. I omitted DH for NL teams during the non-DH seasons, since most of them had something like -0.5 WAR in 45 plate appearances. I also excluded 2020 as a whole because of the small sample size of games and sudden irregularity.

Among the 222 playoff teams, 90 of them had a single position below replacement level in WAR. Designated hitter was the position that playoff teams most often received less than replacement-level production, with 28 teams getting negative value from their DHs. Having multiple positions below replacement was rarer, with only 20 of the playoff teams suffering that malady. But the list of playoff teams with three positions below replacement level features the 2024 Kansas City Royals and only the 2024 Kansas City Royals.

Jaylon Thompson writes about how the outfield will shake out.

India and Massey could occasionally spell members of this group. There is a possibility that India starts in left field some games while Massey plays second base. Other times, Massey could be in the outfield while India plays second. Keeping both players’ bats in the lineup will be paramount most days. It’s a slight change in strategy intended to help the Royals compete in a rugged AL Central.

“We want to get the main guys on the field as much as we can,” Picollo said. “We have more, what we would call everyday players right now, with the addition of (Jonathan) India, than we did last year. So it’s going to take time to figure out all the positions, which is different for us because we always valued the defense.”

David Lesky is curious about how India and Massey could transition to the outfield.

With either in the outfield, it’ll be about tracking the ball more than anything. Most big leaguers are good enough that they can look fine in the outfield (with enough speed), but tracking the ball off the bat and getting good jumps is what makes it so difficult. Some take to it right way, others do eventually (Alex Gordon comes to mind) and some just don’t (*cough* MJ Melendez *cough*). That’ll be the biggest thing I’m watching this spring on the position player front because it can really change the way this team looks if either or both can handle a second or even third position. I also want to see how Gavin Cross looks because I think he has a shot to help out at some point, but it’s about how he looks, not the results.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter looks at PECOTA projections for Royals pitchers.

Even though Ragans’ 2024 on the mound was phenomenal, PECOTA thinks his 2025 could be even better.

PECOTA projects Ragans to not only post a better WARP (0.2 wins higher) but also improve in DRA (18 points), DRA-(five points), and cFIP (10 points). Skubal likely will be the AL Cy Young favorite again in 2025, but his 4.7 WARP projection isn’t considerably better than Ragans’. Thus, based on what PECOTA is calculating, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Royals’ ace make more noise in the AL Cy Young race this season.

Anne Rogers has everything you need to know about Royals spring training.

The Padres sign outfielder Connor Joe.

Arizona signs first baseman Trey Mancini to a minor league deal.

The Astros reportedly increased their offer to Alex Bregman.

Who are the most notable unsigned free agents?

Which stadiums are most affected by wind?

Why the Mets and Pete Alonso needed each other.

Are the Pirates wasting their young starting pitchers?

Former Mets reliever Jeurys Familia wants to make a comeback.

Hall of Famer Wade Boggs announces he is cancer-free.

Former Chiefs player Jared Allen is in this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

Who were the winners and losers of the NBA trade deadline?