Kasnas City native Connor Dawson is leaving the Brewers to join the Royals hitting staff:
Dawson, 32, is a Kansas City-area native and has been a hitting coach with the Brewers since the 2022 season.
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Royals have not confirmed the hire, but Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold told reporters on Thursday that Dawson is joining the Royals’ staff. “It’s a tough loss for us, but it’s home for him,” Arnold said.
The Royals’ search is not yet complete, however, with the club expected to hire additional hitting staff members – potentially another coach or analyst.
Meanwhile, Cullen Maxey is joining the business side:
Maxey spent the past 20 years with the D-backs, and over the last 16 years, he oversaw all revenue-generating, community impact and fan-facing departments. His most recent title was executive vice president, business operations and chief revenue officer.
“This is an opportunity and fit that I never would have dreamed of,” Maxey said in the team’s statement announcing the hire. “The Royals are known throughout the industry for how much they care about the Kansas City region and their fans. Working with this homegrown ownership group that’s invested so much already with plans of doing even more to strengthen this community is an honor.”
Two Royals prospects and two staff were selected for the Fall Star Game, the AFL’s All-Star Game:
And on Thursday, [Blake] Mitchell was named an AFL Fall Star. He will represent the Royals alongside teammate Daniel Vazquez in the Fall Stars Game on Sunday, Nov. 9 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona…
Jesus Azuaje — manager of the Royals’ High-A affiliate, the Quad Cities River Bandits — will lead the National League squad. Bryce Hall will be the NL strength and conditioning coach.
For being an early November day, we’ve got a lot going on. Onto blogs?
Craig Brown is back! He looks at the Royals’ payroll situation:
The Royals leadership has been coy about a payroll target for next season. General Manager JJ Picollo said in his end-of-the-season press conference that they’re happy with where they are operating and that the team is “in a good spot.” Chairman John Sherman used the exact same phrasing when talking to Anne Rogers last month. I suppose that’s the smart play. If they gave a real number, guys like me would be writing about it all winter. It becomes a target and that’s not the way the Royals should be operating.
Cot’s Contracts has the Royals final 2025 payroll number at just under $138 million. If that’s the “good spot,” then the Royals would seem to have around $8 to $10 million rattling around the vaults to make a move. If you’ve been paying attention to the free agent contract estimates that drop this time of year from FanGraphs and the like, you know that’s not nearly enough to bring in an impact-type player. You might be able to get a reliever like Kyle Finnegan or Luke Weaver or Caleb Ferguson. The position players are largely priced out at that level. Maybe they can stretch the budget a tad and find room for Ha-Seong Kim or Harrison Bader or Gleyber Torres. Otherwise, you’re looking at bringing back a Mike Yastrezmski.
David Lesky ($) has a long post, first about the top free agents in the league and then about Connor Dawson:
Dawson went to Olathe North, so he’s a local guy. He went into coaching directly after college and eventually was hired by the Mariners to work in their minor league season before the Brewers hired him as one of their hitting coaches ahead of the 2022 season. Dawson certainly wasn’t the only hitting coach in Milwaukee, so it gets difficult to know where to pinpoint the credit, but he was part of a group that oversaw an above average offense in three of the four years that he was there. The exception was 2023, but they still posted a 9.7 percent walk rate and were middle of the pack in runs scored.
The 2025 Brewers finished third in baseball in runs scored despite finishing 22nd in baseball in home runs. Now, I mentioned this during the postseason that their style fizzled in the NLCS, similarly to how we’ve seen some Royals teams go quiet, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t a successful offense and haven’t been during his tenure in Milwaukee.
When the Royals moved on from Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon but kept Alec Zumwalt, I read between the lines and determined that it sure felt like the Royals liked Zumwalt’s message but felt they needed new messengers. Dawson’s messages can be found to line up with a lot of what we’ve heard from the Royals in this article about Isaac Collins and his rookie year success.
Blog Roundup:
- Caleb Moody at KOK: Red-hot Royals youngster continues to put prospect world on notice in AFL
- Oliver Vandervoort at KOK: MLB insider thinks addressing this obvious need could be Royals key to the AL Central
- Patrick Glancy at Powder Blue Nostalgia: Baseball Really is the Best
It’s a Friday in November, so you should probably know what’s up by now. We’re starting the Asian baseball roundup this week. Here are links to the previous articles this year: (CPBL Preview) (KBO Preview) (NPB Preview) (Mid-Season Update). We’re going to finish the season in that order: CPBL today, KBO next week, and NPB the week after.
As we mentioned at the midseason:
In the first half, familiar teams ended atop the standings as the Uni-Lions were 2 games clear of the Brothers and clinch a playoff spot. Our Monkeys finished 3rd, tied with the Hawks and 1 game ahead of the Dragons. The Guardians were in the cellar, well behind everyone else.
The second half standings were similar, but the Brothers came out on top while the Monkeys bumped up to 2nd, and the Uni-Lions finished in 3rd, tied with the Hawks. The Dragons and Guardians brought up the rear. Combining first- and second-half records meant the Brothers would advance to the Taiwan series while the Lions would face the Monkeys with a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 playoff series.
The Lions rode former Red and Brave Jackson Stephens to a 2-1 win in Game 1. They were cruising in Game 2, having knocked out Rakuten’s ace, 2025 MVP finalist, and former Royals farmhand Pedro Fernandez. They were up 6-2 in the 6th, just a few innings away from advancing. However, starter Felix Pena tired and the bullpen fell apart. The Monkeys rallied for 3 in the 6th, 1 in the 8th, and a walkoff in the 9th. The Monkeys bludgeoned Yohander Mendez as they took Game 3 by the score of 9-3, setting up a winner-take-all Game 4. Once again, the Lions were in control, up 3-0 going into the bottom of the 9th. But that’s when Lin Chih-ping happened. The veteran infielder has played all 17 of his years with the franchise, which has had three different names in his time there: the La New Bears (until 2010), the Lamigo Monkeys (2011-2019), and now the Rakuten Monkeys (2020-present). He has more career triples (19) than home runs (18). But the 40-year-old pinch hitter hit a 3-run blast to tie the game. The Monkeys scored in the 10th and advanced to the Taiwan Series. Heartbreak for the Lions, cardiac comebacks for the Monkeys.
The Taiwan Series was uncharacteristically low-scoring. The Monkeys won the first two games 3-0 and 2-1 behind Marcelo Martinez and the aforementioned Fernandez. The Brothers, led by Jesus Vargas, won 2-0 in Game 3. Game 4 was supposed to be on the 22nd, but didn’t happen until the 26th because of rain. This allowed the teams to reset their rotation and Fernandez outdueled Nivaldo Rodriguez, the 2025 CPBL ERA leader.
Finally, the offenses showed up in Game 5. Martinez barely made it into the 6th while allowing 6 runs, though only 1 was earned. For the Brothers, Brandon Leibrandt, son of Royals World Series champion Charlie Leibrandt, gave up 3 in 3 IP. Vargas followed him with 3 shutout innings. The Brothers were up 7-3 going into the 7th But then the Monkeys got 1 in the 7th. In the 8th, the Brothers’ bullpen imploded: a solo home run, a bases-loaded walk, and an RBI fielder’s choice tied the game. The game remained scoreless until the 11th when catcher Lin Hung-Yu hit a 2-run homer to win the game and the series. The Monkeys won their first title as the Rakuten Monkeys as the previous franchise victories came under previous ownership: Lamigo Monkeys (2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019) and La New Bears (2006).
Other notes:
- Bummer – and that was just as RR favorite Chu Yu-Hsien had changed teams. The aging (33yo) slugger signed with the Wei Chuan Dragons last offseason for 4 years/$1.6M. So that gives you an idea of salaries there: the best free agents sign for $300-$500K (USD) per year. That said, he was a key part of the franchise’s previous titles, helping lead the then Lamigo Monkeys to Taiwan Series championships in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
- Speaking of aging sluggers with the Dragons, CPBL’s home run king, Lin Chih-Sheng (aka Ngayaw Ake) has called it a career. He played 22 years in the CPBL, starting back in 2004 with the La New Bears. He was also with the Brothers before ending his career with the Dragons. The 43-year-old slugger was 0 for 9 in his final series before launching a storybook home run in his final at-bat:
But in the bottom of the sixth inning, what looked to be Lin Chih-Sheng’s final trip to the plate became a timeless moment in CPBL history. With 40,000 fans at the Taipei Dome on their feet, singing his iconic walk-up song one last time, Lin took a moment to acknowledge the crowd before stepping into the box.
“Before my last plate appearance, the home plate umpire told me to walk slower to the batter’s box, so the fans can cherish this moment and thank me for my years of service,” Lin Chih-Sheng revealed this heartwarming gesture from the umpire to Liberty Sports after the game.
After working the count to 1-0, the magic happened. Lin Chih-Sheng turned on a fastball up the middle and launched it deep to left for a solo home run. The stadium instantly erupted. As the 22-season veteran circled the bases for the last time, he received a standing ovation not only from fans and teammates but also from the opposing dugout. When he returned to his bench, the crowd thundered his name, “Lin Chih-Sheng, Lin Chih-Sheng”, over and over again, sealing the perfect ending to a legendary CPBL career.
I was wandering around IGN a couple of weeks ago and saw there’s an HD remake of Dragon Quest I & II that just came out. The reviews were generally favorable and made me think “Have we done Dragon Quest/Warrior here before?”. The answer is “Yes”, back in 2019.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t revisit it. Here’s every Overworld theme from the series:
