Thursday News, Notes, and Links

Some news, notes, and links to enjoy this evening.

• It has been a rough week for Kyle Farnsworth.  Last night he fell to his knees after throwing a pitch in the 8th inning of the Royals 4-3 win over the Astros.  Today we learned that Farnsworth has a grade two tear of a muscle in the right groin region.  I’ve never had my hand chomped on by a dog and I have never torn a groin muscle, but if left up to me I’d opt for the dog bite.  It has not yet been announced whether a DL stint is in Kyle’s future, but the way he went down, the fact that he required assistance to get off the field, and the fact that the Royals will need to make a roster move before Saturday’s game lead me to believe that the Professor is DL bound.  Speculation abounds that Bruce Chen will be the spot starter Saturday against the Pirates.  Said speculation was ramped up when Chen was removed after pitching just 2.0 innings in his start yesterday.
• LHP-Danny Duffy was named to the US roster for the All-Star Futures on July 12th.  The Royals #3 prospect, according to Baseball America, has been pitching for the Wilmington Blue Rocks this season.  In 72.2 innings pitched this season, Duffy has a 2.85 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 3.30 K/BB.
• Tuesday the Royals announced the signing of 4 more 2009 draft picks; SS-Scott Lyons (15th round), 2B-Ben Tschepikow (17th round), LHP-Jonathan Keck (42nd round), CF-Anthony Howard (47th round).  They also signed RHP-Scott Shimek as an undrafted free agent.  Shimek pitched last season for St. Mary’s University (Texas).
• Chukars Checkup:
  • On Saturday 2009 Draft picks RHP-Cole White (6th round), RHP-Patrick Keating (20th round), RHP-Nicholas Wooley (12th round), and LHP-Brendan Lafferty (18th round) were assigned to the Chukars pitching staff.  C-Ben Theriot (9th round) will also be playing for the Chukars.
  • Also on Saturday RHP-Carson Bryant was released from his contract and will not be joining Idaho Falls.
  • Tuesday the Chukars opened their season against the Casper Ghosts with a 10-1 victory.  After the game OF-Shawn Griffin and RHP-Eric Basurto were promoted to the Burlington Bees (Low-A).
  • The Chukars followed up their opening night victory with a 7-4 win last night.
  • 2007 7th round pick, CF-Hilton Richardson has collected 5 hits in his 8 at bats.
• The Burlington Royals lost their season opener 2-1 on Tuesday, but received a solid outing from LHP-John Lamb.  The 2008 5th round draft pick was making his organizational debut and went 5 innings while allowing just 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 2 SO.  Lamb was rear-ended in a car accident last February, suffered a fractured elbow, and subsequently slid in the draft.  If he had been healthy heading into last season’s draft, Lamb had a chance to be selected in the 1st round and could be an absolute steal for the Royals.
• Wilmington Blue Rocks Transactions:
  • June 12th, signed free agent LHP-Carlos Rivas.
  • June 13th, 24 year old RHP-Zach Peterson promoted to Wilmington from the Burlington Bees.  With the Bees, Peterson had a 3.63 ERA, 37 H, 10 BB, and 21 SO in 39.2 innings pitched.  Since joining Wilmington he has pitched 2.1 scoreless innings.
  • June 18th, 23 year old 3B-Josh Johnson demoted to Wilmington from the NW Arkansas Naturals.  He was hitting .214/.314/.233 in 103 AB in double-A.  Since joining the Blue Rocks he is hitting .333/.444/.333 in his 6 AB.  Johnson was a 3rd round pick of the Royals in the 2004 draft.
• The Omaha Royals released C-Matt Tupman this week.  Head over to Royals Review to read A Sad Story: Matt Tupman Leaves Royals.
• Rany has yet another excellent post up.  Head over to his site to read Release The Hounds.
• Check out Interesting Day 2 and 3 Draft Picks over at The Royal Tower to get Keith’s thoughts on some of the Royals later picks from the 2009 draft.
• Finally for some shocking news, click here.  It’s a surprise.

Tomorrow’s edition of Central Processing will cover one of my favorite stats in all of baseball, the mighty double.  Have a great night!