Weekend Rumblings – News for May 10, 2025

The key to the Royals’ success? Yacht rock.

Pete Grathoff writes that the Royals clubhouse has been fueled lately by Yacht Rock.

“You look at the formula of our games, and just winning teams in general, pitching and defense are always what you want to come back to,” starting pitcher Kris Bubic said as Earth, Wind and Fire’s “The Way You Move” played.

“And if we’re doing those things well, offense getting timely hits, I think we’ll be in a really good spot. “We’re never really out of any game because our pitching staff has been so effective, so good at putting up zeros. So we just want to keep that momentum rolling.”

He also writes the baserunning has improved lately.

“I think we’ve gotten better jumps lately,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “But as we’ve talked about with getting thrown out, there are a lot of pieces into that. And we ran into some catchers that made some really good throws, some pitchers that held us. We were struggling to score runs, so maybe we tried to force the issue a little bit more than we needed to.”

Vahe Gregorian talks to Matt Quatraro and analytics guru Daniel Mack about the numerous Royals lineups.

As much as hitting and match-ups typically weigh most heavily in this particular one, that’s only a sliver of what’s being discussed in those meetings led by Quatraro — whom Mack calls “such an inquisitive human being.”

Among other metrics-based elements incorporated into their thinking, of course, are defense and base-running.

Then there’s factors such as spreading out lefthanded hitters in the lineup to offset lefthanded relievers, flexibility for late-game situations and Quatraro’s preference to keep free-swinging batters from being lined up together (the better to avoid a couple fast outs).

Kyle Wright had a setback in his rehab.

Royals pitcher Kyle Wright faced a small setback during his rehab assignment from right shoulder surgery, experiencing shoulder fatigue during his second rehab start on Wednesday with Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Wright was recalled from his rehab assignment but stayed on the 15-day injured list, with the Royals announcing Friday they plan to have him skip one or two starts before sending him back out to an affiliate and continue building up. He was in Kansas City on Friday and played catch.

Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic reports the Royals weren’t willing to pay the $3.7 million remaining to claim outfielder Leody Taveras off waivers.

Unlike the Mariners, the Royals did not view Taveras as worthy of a claim, according to a source briefed on their thinking. Club officials essentially believed the financial commitment to Taveras would be too great, particularly when it might limit their dollars available at the deadline.

Outfielder John Rave, batting .268 with six homers and an .886 OPS at Triple A, is an internal candidate for promotion.

Jac Caglianone hit his ninth home run of the year.

The Kansas City Monarchs won their season opener Friday evening.

Red Sox owners and executives are in Kansas City to smooth things over with Rafael Devers.

Tarik Skubal is dominant as the Tigers win their fifth in a row.

Erick Fedde goes the distance to blank the Nationals.

The Padres trade first baseman Connor Joe to the Reds.

The Athletics designate former Royals pitcher Noah Murdock for assignment.

New Pirates manager Don Kelly sees an opportunity for growth with his hometown team.

Which manager will be fired next?

Why Mike Elias can’t turn the Orioles into the Astros.

Weird things are going on in extra innings this year.

Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto is in a bad early season slump.

Shohei Ohtani’s agent says he could have landed a 15-year deal.

Tiger Woods’ son Charlie fails to qualify for the U.S. Open.

The NCAA is reportedly considering lifting a ban on sports betting for players and coaches.

The history of the bromance movie.

The future of manufacturing may be in space.

Who were the 13 other popes named Leo?

Your song of the day is Looking Glass with Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).