Royals Rumblings - News for July 30, 2024

It’s trade deadline day.

Jaylon Thompson writes about how aggressive the Royals might be for today’s trade deadline.

“We want to be aggressive; we want to do what we need to do for this team,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said. “At the same time, we want to be aware of what our future looks like. So we’ll be a little more calculated going forward and what we might get in return.”

He also writes about James McArthur’s struggles.

“I’ve struggled before — a lot,” McArthur said Monday, a day after KC’s ninth-inning deficit become a 7-3 loss to the Cubs. “A lot through college, minor leagues and in the major leagues, so I know I can get through these times. They’re definitely frustrating while you are going through them, but at the end of the day I just want to help the team win.

“So luckily for me, we have a really good pitching department here, and those guys have been working with me through this whole thing, and they work with me whenever things are going good, too.”

Anne Rogers writes about missed opportunities and the need for more bullpen depth.

“I’m not looking at the record or standings or anything like that,” outfielder Hunter Renfroe said. “I know we have to go out and win every single game as we possibly can. The ones that hurt us are the ones that we are winning and somehow give up. We’ve got to go out there every single day with the mindset that we’re going to win a ballgame and play as hard as we possibly can.”

She also writes about the Michael Lorenzen trade as the Royals suffer some injuries.

John Schreiber suffered a right knee injury and is expected to go on the injured list Monday, Picollo said. Hunter Harvey, the Royals’ earlier Deadline addition, left the game with back spasms, but he will likely be able to pitch in the coming days. There will likely be a corresponding move on Monday for Schreiber’s IL placement, as Lorenzen is not expected to report to the club until Wednesday or Thursday. He likely wouldn’t have been able to pitch anyway, given that he started for the Rangers on Saturday — without making it out of the first inning — and pitching four innings in relief on Sunday when Jon Gray went down with an injury.

“In a lot of ways, [Lorenzen is] very, very good insurance for us regardless of what his role is,” Picollo said. “We think it’ll just play out in time.”

Michael Baumann at Fangraphs reviews the Michael Lorenzen trade.

Well, as good as the first two months of the season were to Lorenzen, the last two months were less so. Since June 7, his ERA is 4.79 and his FIP is 6.19, and he’s allowed 10 home runs in just 47 innings. Over the past 30 days, his ERA is 6.20. His past two appearances were the apotheosis of a pitcher on his way out: On Saturday, Lorenzen threw 40 pitches and allowed four runs but failed to get out of the first inning. A day later, the Rangers brought him back for a four-inning relief appearance totaling 55 more pitches.

Some regression was always going to happen. Lorenzen has never been a big strikeout guy, and this season he’s increased his walk rate by more than half. Out of 80 pitchers with at least 100 innings this season, Lorenzen is dead last in K-BB%. All of this while allowing a higher-than-average HR/9 rate.

Eno Sarris at The Athletic thinks Lorenzen can be an upgrade for the Royals.

Having that many pitches also means he’s never forced to throw the “wrong” pitch. Pitches all have platoon splits, which is part of why righties don’t usually throw sinkers to left-handed batters. Lorenzen throws his sinker almost four times as often to righties than he does lefties — he prefers the four-seam fastball against them. He rarely throws his slider against lefties and never throws his sweeper to them. With an arsenal that large and decent command of most of the pitches, he can be a chameleon, shifting to find the best pitches for every situation.

So he’ll probably be an upgrade for the Royals, making a really good rotation even better. And his pitching coach will be excited to see what tweaks they can make to the approach to keep the results coming.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter reacts to the Lorenzen trade.

The Royals are coming back to Comcast.

The White Sox send Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham to the Cardinals and Michael Kopech to the Dodgers in a three-team trade.

The Dodgers reacquire infielder Amed Rosario from the Rays.

The Mariners acquire Justin Turner from the Blue Jays.

Toronto also trades pitcher Yusei Kikuchi to the Astros.

Cleveland acquires outfielder Lane Thomas from the Nationals.

The Brewers acquire Frankie Montas from the Reds for Jakob Junis and Joey Wiemer.

Jazz Chisholm is open to playing third base for the Yankees, while Gleyber Torres balks at playing there.

White Sox GM Chris Getz was surprised by his contract demand with a trade.

Are the Rays giving up or strategizing?

The Yankees are open to trading pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr.

Former MLB reliever Reyes Moronta dies at age 31 in a car crash.

Snoop Dogg has been great for the Olympics.

How Canada defends the Arctic.

Bigger highways don’t actually reduce traffic.

Deadpool’s first MCU movie is already one of Marvel’s all-time biggest hits.

Your song of the day is Radiohead with No Surprises.