Royals Rumblings - News for December 13, 2024

Friday the 13th seems less intimidating in December

At The Star, Taylor Eldridge, Wichita State beat reporter, writes about Mike Sweeney’s son, M.J. Sweeney, going to Wichita State:

The son of Kansas City Royals legend Mike Sweeney will suit up for the Wichita State baseball team in 2026.

M.J. Sweeney, a highly touted prospect who was originally committed to Texas out of high school, gave a verbal commitment to WSU head coach Brian Green on Thursday.

And yes, he plays first base just like his father, which will be a position of need for the Shockers entering the 2026 season following the graduations of Josh Livingston and Ryan Callahan. The biggest difference? M.J. Sweeney stands 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds.

Jaylon Thompson talks Kyle Wright. There’s a decent chance he’s never the same pitcher he was. But there’s also a chance he could be a major piece next year.

“It’s hard to pencil in a guy coming off a shoulder procedure, but he has made progression and there was a reason why we acquired him last season,” Picollo said. “It was for the 2025 season, so he was feeling good at the end of the year here. … We’re optimistic on Kyle, but we also have to be realistic. You know, I don’t think he is going to throw 185 innings next year, but whatever we can get out of him will be a benefit.”

And... that’s it for official stories. But we have some nice, long blog entries.

At Inside the Crown ($), David Lesky writes about the waiting game of the offseason:

It goes back to something I mentioned at the deadline. They don’t need a star. It’s not that they wouldn’t benefit from another one, but they’ve got the core of their lineup, their rotation and their bullpen. They need the pieces to build around them. Sure, adding a third ace would be nice, but it’s not necessary. It would be great to put an MVP candidate next to Bobby Witt Jr. in the lineup, but it’s not necessary. The only area where it feels like they at least have their star or stars lineup and another one may be necessary is the bullpen, but a) no star relievers have signed other than Clay Holmes who signed as a starer, and b) so many star relievers come out of nowhere that it’s not the best strategy to even shop at the top of that market.

Craig Brown wraps up the Winter Meetings at Into the Fountains:

Within that article above from Rogers, she notes that the Royals have pivoted from free agency mode to trade mode, which confirms what we’ve been hearing all along. Free agency, especially for pitchers, has spiralled way beyond expectations. She notes that while the Royals are looking for improved production from their outfield, neither MJ Melendez or Hunter Renfroe have been inquired upon from teams in a manner that would indicate there’s enough interest to make a move.

The Royals Reporter, Kevin O’Brien, continues his position-by-position look at the 2025 Steamer projections with the Royals infield:

In 569 plate appearances, Steamer projects that he will hit .265 with a .305 wOBA, 94 wRC+, and post a 2.1 fWAR. Those are all promising hitting improvements from 2024 and should help Garcia be an ideal fit near the bottom of the batting order. Steamer also projects eight home runs and a BB/K of 0.43, a two-point improvement from his BB/K mark last year. His BB/K ratio would be 14 points better than Massey’s projected mark in that category.

On Monday, Max wrote about the new Royals Hall of Fame ballot. At U.L.’s Toothpick, Darin Watson picks apart the ballot in more detail:

Two years ago, my final vote came down to Butler and Damon, and I went with Butler. I would repeat that decision but this time, with five choices available, I can vote for both. So that gives me a ballot of Beltran, Butler, Damon, and Gordon. I think I would go with Soria for the fifth spot, mostly on longevity and his saves total. But I also think there are no wrong answers here, just some choices that are better than others.

Blog Roundup:

• Rachael Millanta at KOK: Recent free agent signings prove Michael Wacha did KC Royals a favor
• Eric Treuden at KOK: Matt Quatraro sheds some light on Maikel Garcia’s role moving forward

As I mentioned last week, we’re going to be doing the 2024 second half review and then talk about what’s on tap for next year.

2024.07.01 (Monday) No OT (“Spoonman” - Soundgarden)

2024.07.05, 2024.07.12, 2024.07.19, 2024.07.26 OUT

2024.08.02 2024 Olympics (“NBC Olympic Theme” - Arnaud/Williams)

2024.08.09 2024 Olympics Part II (1984 Opening Ceremonies)

2024.08.16 CPBL Midseason 2024 (“Sector X” - Star Fox)

2024.08.23 KBO Midseason 2024 (“Destiny’s Force” - Kingdom Hearts)

2024.08.30 NPB Midseason 2024; (“Boss Fight” - Nitro Fun, from Just Shapes & Beats)

2024.09.06 1958 Cubs/Dodgers audio clip (1959 Braves/Dodgers tiebreaker game)

2024.09.13 Disneyland rides and Disney ride ranking revisited (Tron: Lightcycle Run POV)

2024.09.20 Telescope viewing experience; (Rex Hudler “moon is a planet”)

2024.09.27 Universal Hollywood ride rankings (“Bowser’s Castle” - Mario Kart 8)

2024.10.04 The rough and tumble world of t-shirt quilts after locker room shirts got their own story; (“Dancing in the Streets” - Donkey Konga)

2024.10.11 Minions franchise movie reviews (“Double Life” - Pharrell Williams from Despicable Me 4)

2024.10.18, 2024.10.25 OUT

2024.11.01 Movie pair reviews (Beetlejuice ending)

2024.11.08 CPBL Season Wrap 2024 (“Head Like a Hole” - Nine Inch Nails)

2024.11.15 KBO Season Wrap 2024 (“Battle 1” - Final Fantasy IX)

2024.11.22 OUT (unexpectedly)

2024.11.29 NPB Season Wrap 2024 (“That Person’s Name Is” ＆ “Fighting to the End” - Bravely Default)

2024.12.06 2023 Year End Wrap, Christmas Movies (“Christmastime” - Smashing Pumpkins)

2024.12.13 2024 Year End Wrap (Trans-Siberian Orchestra full concert) <- You are here

2024.12.20, 2024.12.27 OUT

Just a sampling of what I have half written right now. Sure, not all of these will make it out the door, but they’ve all been started:

• Provided I get them done, I’d like to run a couple of OTs in January about some radio program I listened to when I was younger and roll it into a concert I went into last year
• As always: tons of movie reviews; I’d like to do the Mission: Impossible series as I’ve only seen a couple of those and it looks like the one coming out this year could kindof be a conclusion; I’d also like to watch the Indiana Jones series as I haven’t seen the most recent one and I kindof want to do Jurassic Park/World but, man, is there any series with this many movies where the gap between best and second best movie is so pronounced?
• I have “essentials” lists of key episodes of old animated series like I did with Transformers; These include Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, and GI Joe that have been written for a while and just need to be formatted and kicked out the door; I think GI Joe will go first; we’re watching our way through X-Men right now
• I have another entry into the children’s books series that I need to flesh out
• I have a rant on traffic and how, while every city has bad drivers and traffic, different cities are unhappy in their own way
• I started jotting down some notes about favorite paintings from museums that I’ve been to
• Of course, there’s going to be some Asian baseball to write about - maybe I’ll dial back to 2 a year instead of 3 a year for each league? Maybe I’ll try to work in some of the other leagues like the Mexican league? I don’t know.
• Lastly, any thoughts on any of the topics or anything else we’ve talked about?

Just a reminder that I’m going to be out the last two weeks of the year so Happy Holidays to all and I’ll see you on the other side of the New Year.

I’ve mentioned Trans-Siberian Orchestra a number of times on this site. You can find links to all of the times in my article from last year. Speaking which, about a year ago, we were getting ready to go see them live in Houston as my son’s first concert. Here’s a full show they did back in 2019 - if you get a chance to see them live and like their music, do it.