Cole Ragans will begin a rehab assignment at Omaha, writes Jaylon Thompson.
He is set to start Saturday’s game for the Storm Chasers against the St. Paul Saints — the Triple-A minor-league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.
“We have him scheduled for four to five innings,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “(It’s) 65 pitches, something like that. You know, see how far he goes on that number of pitches.”
Tyler Tolbert is back with the club.
“It’s always a good feeling to have him as a pinch-runner, specifically,
or have that safety blanket as a guy that can play multiple positions in case of need,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.
Pete Grathoff writes about Matt Quatraro following Ned Yost’s advice.
Yost publicly stated he heeded the advice of his mentor Bobby Cox: When wanting to make a change, wait a week before doing it.
“I‘ve heard that before about Ned, and from other managers as well,” Quatraro said. “I think that just speaks to trying to not be reactive and I believe you have a certain level of trust in your players. I mean, we don’t have 25 other major-league quality players just floating around that you pick and put in a lineup.”
Quatraro then mentioned Pasquantino and Perez without saying their names.
“I mean, you’re talking about guys that drove in 100 runs last year that have the track record of being good hitters,” Quatraro said. “And we believe in those guys, so I don’t have a strict like ‘after this many days we will do this,’ but we consider a lot of things all the time.”
Quatraro pleads patience.
Sam McDowell writes that Bobby Witt Jr. is pacing for an all-time great season.
Witt is on pace for a 10.7 WAR season, which, if it comes to fruition, would be the best individual season for a position player in franchise history, and by a lot. He’d surpass his own mark of 9.6, set back in 2024. (George Brett, by the way, has five of the club’s top eight marks, and he was the last KC player to lead baseball in WAR some 40 years ago.)
If Witt finishes at 10.7, and the Royals don’t improve their last-place standing, it would be the best season ever for a player on a last-place team. Barry Bonds currently holds that distinction, a 9.7 WAR for the last-place Giants in 1996.
David Lesky looks at what the Royals would have to offer if they become sellers.
Wacha is under team control through at least 2027 and has a club option for $14 million. In fact, next year’s salary drops to $14 million as well. Given the start to his season, he’s extremely valuable. But there are some concerns. He’ll turn 35 on July 1, which means a team trading for him would technically get the rest of his age-34 season (seasonal age is as of June 30, so he barely gets in) and his age-35 season, but they’re really getting all of his year-35 and half of 36 with an option for the rest of that year and half of 37. Still, he seems to be aging quite well with some of his best years coming since he turned 30.
I suppose the Orioles acquisition of Zach Eflin a couple of years ago kind of fits the mold here.
The Royals sign veteran pitchers Luke Jackson and Génesis Cabrera to minor league contracts.
Cristopher Sánchez extends his scoreless streak to 37.2 innings.
The Red Sox will move Marcelo Mayor back to shortstop.
Yankees infielder Anthony Volpe may move to second base.
The Mets cut ties with veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel.
Why the Brewers are not underdogs.
Chris Taylor officially retires after 12 seasons.
Buster Olney at ESPN writes about the X-factors for this year’s trade deadline.
What’s up with the “Tarps Off” trend?
Cristiano Ronaldo tops Forbes’ list of highest-paid athletes.
What we know about Kyle Busch’s untimely death at age 41.
The ways toilets have killed people.
Spotify will allow users to use AI to create remixes.
What are America’s most misspelled words?
Your song of the day is Boston with Peace of Mind.
