Royals Rumblings - News for March 6, 2025
[Inset something witty here]
Jaylon Thompson breaks down Kansas City’s bullpen options:
Last season, Estévez pitched to a 2.45 ERA with 26 saves in 54 games for the Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies. He bolsters a Royals bullpen that has undergone significant change over the past year. KC acquired right-handers Lucas Erceg and Hunter Harvey at the 2024 MLB trade deadline. Last spring, the organization added reliever John Schreiber from the Boston Red Sox. This is the quartet that headlines the Royals’ bullpen for 2025. Each player can pitch in high-leverage situations and finish games, so manager Matt Quatraro should have plenty of late-inning options.
Jac Caglianone has really made an impression on scouts in Spring Training ($):
With all of 126 professional plate appearances to his name, Caglianone needs more seasoning before ascending to Kansas City. The sixth pick in the draft last year ditched pitching — he regularly threw 99 mph from the left side at Florida — to focus on hitting full-time and uncorked a 115.4 mph bomb in his first spring training game.
At 6-5 and 250 pounds, Caglianone is an imposing presence, though he’s not some wild-swinging, homer-or-nothing prospect. At High-A and in the Arizona Fall League, he struck out only 20% of the time. Kansas City has something of a first-base glut with Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez, so Caglianone will get outfield reps this year and could find himself playing in a corner, accelerating the timeline for his big league debut to perhaps as soon as this summer.
Kevin O’Brien has thoughts on Mike Moustakas at the Royals Reporter:
The Royals did this two seasons ago with Lorenzo Cain, who signed a one-day contract to retire with Kansas City. I was lucky to be at the game on May 6th, 2023, against the Oakland Athletics, and it was a grand ceremony and opportunity for Royals fans to recognize a player who was so key to those playoff runs in 2014 and 2015. I imagine the Royals will do something similar with Moustakas and his one last day on May 31st.
Much like Cain, Moustakas found success after he left Kansas City in 2018 near the Trade Deadline. He helped the Brewers have some postseason success and posted a solid 2019 campaign in Milwaukee, as evidenced by his 2.7 fWAR. Moustakas signed with the Reds in free agency in 2020, and after a decent season during the 60-game COVID season (0.5 fWAR), he regressed in 2021 and 2022. He accumulated a -0.9 fWAR in 140 games with the Reds over those two seasons
MLB Pipeline dropped their Top 30 Royals prospects, with Caglianone at the top.
At least nine Royals games will be nationally televised this season.
Taking a closer look at the decline of the first baseman.
Roki Sasaki’s splitter may be the next great MLB pitch.
Jefry Yan has stood out this spring for his celebrations ($).
The Portland Diamond Project unveiled renderings of a potential MLB ballpark in the city.
LSU takes the top spot while the previous #1 Texas A&M tumbles in this week’s college baseball top 25.
George Mason put up 23 runs in a single inning without even hitting a home run.
Less than a year after playing in the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks appear to be dead.
AI chatbots and their programmers have a big problem with ethical questions.
Casey Anthony is rebranding as a legal advocate on TikTok.
Disney is shuttering FiveThirtyEight.
Your song of the day is Ease by Christian Löffler.