Were the Royals interested in trading for Luis Arraez?
The Royals had some interest in trading for Luis Arraez, reports Ken Rosenthal.
At least one other team, the Kansas City Royals, was in contact with the Marlins about Arraez last week, according to major-league sources who were granted anonymity for their candor. Those talks, however, never advanced beyond the preliminary stage. The Padres’ pursuit of Arraez dated to the offseason (the Seattle Mariners also restated their longstanding interest then). In the end, Bendix determined he could not “walk past” the San Diego offer.
Anne Rogers checks in with Royals director of player development Mitch Maier on the farm system.
No. 1 prospect Blake Mitchell has turned it on recently in Columbia and now has a .866 OPS with three homers. His strikeout rate, though, is 34%. What have you seen from the catcher so far?
Maier: He’s continued to come back and have a really good approach day in and day out. And he’s done some really good things offensively. He’ll continue to adjust and get better, and I think we’ll see those strikeout numbers start to come down. It’s part of it, being his first full season. There are times where he’s exposed to things that he’s never been exposed to before. So now it’s about seeing him make those adjustments, which he’s already started to do. We’re happy with how he’s caught and handled the pitching staff. And his at-bats have continued to get better.
Kris Bubic is on the road to recovery.
LHP Kris Bubic, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery last year, is slated to begin a rehab assignment tomorrow. He’ll start a few games in the Arizona Complex League before moving to another affiliate. #Royals
— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) May 6, 2024
David Lesky talks to some scouts about Royals prospects, like Gavin Cross.
“It’s either going to click for him soon or he’s going to get exposed in AAA. I can’t decide.”
That’s not what you want from the top pick from just a couple of years ago, but I thought the rationale here was interesting. He said the bat-to-ball skills are all there. The decisions are generally all there. But this scout has seen him quite a bit over the last two seasons and he said that he just struggles to make contact for stretches of time. If that can go away, he has a chance to be a top-50 prospect.
Steve Adams at MLB Trade Rumors looks at the drought in the Royals outfield.
Put more concisely: a lot is going right in Kansas City! It’s a good time to be a Royals fan – perhaps not relative to 2014-15 but certainly relative to the eight years since that consecutive pair of World Series appearances.
If there’s one area that has to remind Royals fans of that eight-year drought, however, it’s the team’s once-again middling outfield. Kansas City outfielders are hitting .190/.254/.323 on the season. The resulting 63 wRC+ indicates they’re 37% worse than league-average at the plate as a group. That ranks last in Major League Baseball. Let’s get into the grisly details.
A county legislator who put the stadium tax measure on the ballot was asking the team for suite tickets.
Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter wonders how long before the Royals make changes to the outfield.
The White Sox release outfielder Brett Phillips.
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Your song of the day is Rilo Kiley with Portions for Foxes.