Royals Rumblings - News for December 11, 2024
What is Maikel Garcia’s role next year?
Anne Rogers talks to J.J. Picollo as the Winter Meetings head into their final day.
“As free agents sign, are there redundancies now?” Picollo said. “Maybe it creates an opportunity. Maybe there are ideas of exchanging money that will help us finance another player somehow. So for us, it’s just watching how things go.
“Free agency seems like the thing that’s moving — you watch how that impacts that team’s roster and if there are opportunities for you to make a move, or at least make a call. And that’s the stage we’re in right now. It’s just slow.”
Jaylon Thompson talks to Matt Quatraro about the role of Maikel Garcia next year.
On Monday, Quatraro told reporters at the Winter Meetings in Dallas that Garcia will primarily be at third base but could shift to different positions while in a full-time role.
“He’s going to play a lot at third base,” Quatraro said. “We’ve seen his versatility. He is the shortstop if something were to happen to Bobby (Witt). He can play second. We’ve put him in the outfield a couple times. I know in the spring we’ll just move him around, but primarily at third base.”
David Lesky is hearing rumblings about Mets third baseman Brett Baty.
For the Royals, things were pretty quiet on the rumor front. One thing I’d been hearing for a few days was that the Royals and Mets had been talking. I imagine some of these talks were held up a bit by Soto too, so add that to the list, but the name I kept hearing mentioned was Brett Baty. So I asked around to some other people and pretty much everyone who I talked to had heard some semblance of the same rumor from a different person.
Now, that doesn’t mean a deal is going to happen, but it’s interesting.
Craig Brown tries to figure where everyone will play next year.
Within the Athletic article, there is talk about India and Massey both finding some playing time in left field. That the Royals are entertaining playing one or both of those two in the outfield—in a position neither has played in the majors before—tells you a lot about how the Royals view MJ Melendez.
Both India and Massey are apparently open to the idea of playing some in the outfield. If both players can produce offensively along the lines with what they brought to the plate in 2024—Massey slugged .449 and finished with a 102 wRC+ while India posted a .357 OBP and a 108 wRC+—while playing averagish defense in left, that would represent an upgrade from Melendez who finished 2024 hitting .206/.273/.400 with an 85 wRC+. Still not what you want from a corner outfielder, but an improvement.
According to the Kansas City Business Journal, the Royals have been meeting with a developer in regards to the Washington Square ballpark site. [$]
The Yankees sign Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million deal.
Nate Eovaldi re-signs with the Rangers on a three-year, $75 million contract.
The Guardians send All-Star second baseman Andres Gimenez to the Blue Jays for Spencer Horwitz, then send Horwitz to Pittsburgh.
The Washington Nationals land the top pick in the draft lottery.
Boston is preparing an offer for free agent Corbin Burnes.
Nolan Arenado narrows the list of teams he would waive his no-trade clause for to six.
Seiya Suzuki wants to play the outfield, but is only willing to waive his full-no trade clause for a few teams.
The Dodgers are making signing Roki Sasaki a priority.
What could teams offer to land Garrett Crochet from the White Sox?
Nine-time All-Star outfielder Rocky Colavito dies at the age of 91.
Bill Belichick may be the next head football coach at the University of North Carolina.
Northern Illinois is weighing an offer to join the Mountain West Conference.
A company that makes AI companion toys for kids goes out of business, rendering the $799 toy worthless.
A judge blocks the sale of Infowars to The Onion.
The TV show Somebody Somewhere had its series finale with no grand stakes, and that’s what made it great.
Your song of the day is Kendrick Lamar with DNA.