Daily Clips
January 10, 2018
LOCAL
Royals will have new-look bullpen in 2018
January 9, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
The unwritten rules for a field visit
January 8, 2018By Lee Judge/LeeJudgeKC.Wordpress.com
MINORS
Jacob Bodner has successful fall-league stint with Royals
January 9, 2018By Matt Overing/The Advocate-Messenger
MLB TRANSACTIONS
January 10, 2018 •.CBSSports.com
LOCAL
Royals will have new-look bullpen in 2018
January 9, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Just as is the case with the Royals' lineup and rotation, the potential bullpen heading into 2018 surely will undergo more changes.
The club already has traded left-hander Scott Alexander and right-hander Joakim Soria, and lost closer Mike Minor to free agency. Expect more deals to come that could involve right-hander Kelvin Herrera, who was the closer last season before being demoted in September.
Herrera made $7.5 million last season and is in his final year of arbitration -- general manager Dayton Moore would certainly view trading Herrera as an important step in his goal this offseason of trimming payroll and restocking the farm system.
MLB.com is taking a look at the projected bullpen of all 30 teams ahead of Spring Training. Here's how the Royals might stack up:
BULLPEN IF SEASON STARTED TODAY
Kelvin Herrera, RHP (closer)
Brandon Maurer RHP
Wily Peralta, RHP
Kevin McCarthy, RHP
Ryan Buchter, LHP
Miguel Almonte, RHP
Andres Machado, RHP
Burch Smith, RHP
STRENGTH
There are some power arms here even if the Royals do trade Herrera. Peralta, acquired from the Brewers, can bring it at 96-98 mph, as can Maurer. McCarthy (3.20 ERA in 33 games) and his heavy sinker could be a quality setup guy. Buchter offers the same type of production from the left side (2.67 ERA in 29 outings with a 0.89 WHIP). Almonte and Machado also bring it at 95-mph-plus, and Smith, acquired in a trade through the Rule 5 Draft, has touched 100 mph. The Royals do love power arms in the 'pen.
QUESTION MARK
Who will close in 2018? Minor took over the role in September and went 7-for-7 in save opportunities, but he is now with the Rangers. Two other candidates -- Soria and Alexander -- have been traded. Herrera, if he is still here, would assume the role again, though he seems more comfortable as a setup man. If Herrera is traded, perhaps the Royals try Maurer, who closed for the Padres (33 saves over two seasons), or even Peralta, who has terrific stuff, but he has been an enigma in terms of production. The Royals do have a history of converting starters to late-inning guys (Wade Davis, Luke Hochevar).
WHAT MIGHT CHANGE
Stop me if you've heard this before: A lot could change. Moore and his staff are in rebuilding mode, so more deals could be on the way, starting with Herrera. The guess here is Maurer would get first crack at the closer's role, but don't be surprised if Peralta gets a chance to show his talent in that role come Spring Training. The Royals also are hoping some prospects (right-hander Josh Staumont) can emerge in Spring Training and claim a bullpen role. And the club is bullish on Smith as a late-inning guy.
The unwritten rules for a field visit
January 8, 2018By Lee Judge/LeeJudgeKC.Wordpress.com
Not long ago I wrote about the unwritten rules for visiting a big league clubhouse; today I’m writing about the unwritten rules for being on the field. The Kansas City Royals have tours that allow visitors to stand on the field during batting practice and should you ever take one of those tours, you might want to know the dos and don’ts beforehand.
Do not stand on the grass
Big league groundskeepers are touchy about the grass and don’t want it to get any extra wear and tear, so if you ever get to be on the field at Kauffman Stadium, stay on the warning track; if the grass is going to get beat up, players and coaches are the ones to do it.
For a while, Alex Gordon decided he had to stand in the same place every time he was on deck and if you looked down from the upper deck you could see two white footprints where he had killed the grass. Every once in a while the grounds crew would have to cut out a square of grass and replace the spot Alex stood on.
Here’s another thing you can see from the upper deck: if it’s late in the season and you see a deep path worn from home plate to the mound and the home dugout to the mound, the team is probably having a bad year. Those paths are worn into the grass by a bunch of mound visits and you tend to visit the mound more often when things aren’t going well.
Do not stand behind first base
If you’re on the field for batting practice, infielders will be fielding grounders and throwing the ball to the first baseman. If they make a bad throw – and it happens – anyone standing behind first base has a chance of getting drilled with a baseball.
Novice TV reporters will sometimes set up right behind first base because it’s an open area, but it’s only open because it’s a bad place to stand and experienced visitors avoid lingering there.
Do not turn away from the field
During BP there are screens set up to protect the pitcher, second baseman and first baseman from batted balls, but every once in a while a line drive will hit the frame of a screen and carom off toward a dugout. Even though you don’t think you’re in the line of fire, you can still get hit.
Mike Moustakas once launched a bad throw from third base, hit the edge of the first base screen and then the ball rocketed into the dugout and whacked off the wall about three inches from my right elbow. Mike was horrified and came running over to see if everyone was alright, but when Mike found out it was me he almost hit, he started laughing; Mike didn’t want to hit an innocent stranger, but if he whacked me with a baseball it was OK.
I’ve noticed when Dayton Moore gives an on-field interview he always makes sure he faces the field and lets the reporters turn their back on it, which is an excellent way for a reporter to take a shot in the back of the head.
There’s a reason Dayton is a GM and the rest of us aren’t.
Do not touch a player’s equipment
Players will sometimes leave their glove or BP bat in the dugout when they go out to stretch and once in a while I’ve seen a visitor pick up a player’s bat and take a few experimental swings, which is a really good way to make a player mad.
That’s their stuff and they don’t want anybody messing with it.
And don’t put your hand inside a player’s glove even if he hands it to you to look at. If a player says it’s OK to try the glove on, then go ahead, but players are really superstitious and if you put your hand in a player’s glove and then he makes an error that night, clearly it was your fault. Your un-athletic genes contaminated his glove.
Do not use the restroom just outside the dugout
If you leave the Royals dugout, go down the steps and turn to the right there’s a restroom that the players use during games and BP. In the Royals case, the restroom lock doesn’t work, so that’s how Ned Yost walked in on me when I was using it.
Ned: “Is this a public restroom?”
Me: “It is now.”
So here’s the lesson to be learned from that encounter: that restroom is for the players and coaches and they shouldn’t have to wait for you to finish using it so they can.
Do not ask for an autograph before a player takes batting practice
This one isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, but be aware that players are on a schedule and while it looks like fun to the rest of us, they’re actually working. If you ask a player for an autograph as he leaves the dugout for the batting cage, don’t be surprised if he says he’ll try to catch you later. The player is on a schedule and is supposed to hit at a certain time and with a certain group of players.
After the player gets done hitting and is headed back toward the dugout, you have a much better chance of getting him to sign something. The player’s finished BP and now has some time to kill before the game starts. But even then, some players are headed for the indoor batting cage to get some extra swings or to watch video and are still on a schedule.
When you come to a game early and watch batting practice, remember: you’re watching professional ballplayers at work.
The unwritten rules; it’s mainly common sense
If you’re thinking there are sure are a lot of unwritten rules to follow, you’re right; and I’ve only shown you the tip of the iceberg. There are more unwritten rules than space allows, but most of the unwritten rules are just common sense.
If you ever get to be on the field, act like you would if you were visiting someone’s home. You don’t do whatever you feel like: you ask if it’s OK to do something before you do it and say thank you when the answer is yes.
And if it makes you feel any better: the only reason I know about even a fraction of the unwritten rules is, at one time or another, I broke almost every one of them.
MINORS
Jacob Bodner has successful fall-league stint with Royals
January 9, 2018By Matt Overing/The Advocate-Messenger
Jacob Bodner’s third professional baseball season ended in Surprise.
Bodner was invited to the prestigious Arizona Fall League, one of just seven total minor leaguers to go from the Kansas City Royals’ farm system and play for the Surprise Saguaros in Arizona.
“We played 30 games, I was out there roughly seven weeks,” Bodner said. “We went out there, got a few practices in, threw in a couple of instructional league games and then jumped right into the action. It was a good experience, played against some good competition and it was good to see where I stacked up against those guys.”
Bodner finished his minor-league season with a 5-1 record for the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the High-A affiliate for Kansas City. He pitched in 29 games and rocked a 3.29 ERA over 54.2 innings pitched, striking out 70 batters to just 20 walks along the way.
In the Arizona Fall League, he and his Royals teammates teamed up with members of other organizations to field a complete team.
“Every minor league organization sends roughly five to eight guys, then on each team you have five different major league teams represented,” Bodner said. “So on our team, we had the Rays, Rangers, Royals, Cardinals and the Twins.”
Bodner said he was home for a week when he got the call to attend.
“To be honest with you, I didn’t expect it,” Bodner said. “Teams had already announced who was going to the fall league, we had already announced four guys that we were sending. I thought that was low but I wasn’t really for sure.
“I had been home for about a week, it was that Saturday after our season and our season ended the Monday before, and I got a call from our farm director for the minors. He said they’d like to send me out to the fall league and I didn’t really know what to say at first. He said they’d send me out in three weeks.”
Bodner said he worked out in Chicago with the University of Illinois-Chicago and instructors at the BASH Academy in Chicago to “get back in the groove of things.”
Then, it was wheels up to Surprise.
The Royals didn’t give Bodner a list of what they’d like to see from him in the fall league against some of the best minor-league player from across the country, at all levels. They just told him to go out and pitch.
“They didn’t really say, they just told me to go out there and compete and do the best I can,” Bodner said. “That’s what I did. They didn’t really say ‘we want you to do this.’ A lot of teams really don’t just because they don’t want to give people false hope or if they can’t fulfill a promise. Just because there’s so many guys in an organization. But it was definitely an honor to go there and play, being one of the few selected out of the organization.”
And Bodner performed in similar fashion to the way he performed in Wilmington: He pitched in 11 games and earned a team-high two saves. He finished four games for the Saguaros.
“Overall, I did well, outside of one outing where I didn’t do the best,” Bodner said. “That happened to be the outing on TV. But other than that, I did really well. I was pleased with the results I had and how I was able to go out there and compete against those guys. Their talent level was awesome, so it was awesome to see how I stacked up against those guys. It’s something to look forward to and work even harder in the offseason for.”
Bodner’s one bad outing came on Nov. 11, where he recorded just two outs and gave up four runs. Outside of that outing, he gave up just one run across 10 innings pitched and struck out eight batters.
Although Bodner’s now officially in his offseason, he said he started throwing about two weeks ago in preparation for the upcoming year.
“I head back roughly March 1, give or take a week,” Bodner said. “So right now I’ve been lifting every day during the week and I just started throwing a couple weeks ago. Just throwing and lifting every day, keeping my body in shape and getting my arm in shape as we move forward.”
MLB TRANSACTIONS
January 10, 2018 •.CBSSports.com
Cincinnati Reds / Vance Worley / Signed to a Minor League Contract
Los Angeles Angels / Andrew Heaney / Signed, ( 2018)(avoids arbitration)
Los Angeles Angels / Nate Smith / Designated for Assignment
Los Angeles Angels / Rene Rivera / Signed as Free Agent, ( 2018)(one-year contract)
Texas Rangers / Ryan Rua / Signed, ( 2018)(avoids arbitration)
Texas Rangers / Mike Ohlman / Signed to a Minor League Contract