Sunday Links, News, and Notes

Sunday is traditionally a day of rest, but for yours truly, it is typically a day of site maintenance, networking, and all things Kings of Kauffman that don’t directly relate to writing an article.  One of my main goals for today was to add some sites to my blogroll/favorite sites but in doing so, I came across  a couple of good links to share as well as a few noteworthy things to point out.  I don’t link any site to KoK that I don’t read or visit myself so please take the time to read, click, and enjoy!

• New sites added to the Royals Blogs:
  • Chris “Disco” Hayes has been writing his MLB Blog for a while now and I’ve been reading periodically since Rany wrote about Mr. Disco a while back.  Now I have finally linked him under my Royals Blogs heading.  If you don’t want to find it on the left, click here.  I promise you will thoroughly enjoy his work.  If you haven’t read Promotions, Payback, and Poop Sticks then get prepared to laugh out loud.  Even if you have read it before, revisit it now.  This post is a timeless classic that makes me chuckle time and again.
  • Royalscentricity
  • Tangled Up In (Royal) Blue
  • Royals on Radio Etc.
• MLBTradeRumors.com has now been added to the Statistics, MLB Blogs, and General Baseball Stuff blogroll
• Interesting piece of news out of Minnesota.  As mentioned on SethSpeaks.net and picked up by MLBTradeRumors.com from there, the Twins have signed former Royals 2B Mark Gruzielanek.  Personally I don’t think this move will help or hurt the Twins’ chances of winning the division, but I hope it does.  If the Royals can’t win the AL Central this year, and we all know that ship has sailed, I’d like the Twins to do it.  If Mark Grudzielanek can help make that a reality then I will be happy for him and Minnesota.
• As always there is some great work being done over at Royals Review on a daily basis but I feel compelled to highlight this particular post in case you missed it.  Click on the title to enjoy How to use your Bullpen.  A presentation for Trey Hillman (w/ pictures)
• The Royals lost to the Rays again today, but something amazing happened that we may never see again.  Mike Jacobs was 1 for 1 with 3 walks which is miraculous in itself since he had only walked twice in a game two times before today.  It was an unlikely feat to say the least, but the fact that Jacobs 3 walks were coupled with 1 walk from Miguel Olivo is borderline earth-shattering.  It is the first time all year that Jacobs and Olivo drew a walk in the same game for the Royals.  Along the lines of amazing walk related statistics, Olivo has drawn a walk in 3 consecutive games to push his season total to 6.  That’s right in one 3 games series after the break, he equaled his pre All-Star break walk total.  If he draws one more walk this season, he will equal his 2008 season total.  Despite his newfound plate discipline, his 2003 season high of 19 seems out of reach.
• 1B-Eric Hosmer has been promoted to the High-A Wilmington Blue Rocks.  He has been playing better lately, but it will be interesting to see how he handles playing in Wilmington where offensive statistics go to die.
• Speaking of Wilmington, LHP-Danny Duffy was brilliant yesterday allowing only 2 hits, 1 unearned run and no walks over 7.0 innings of work.  He also struck out 7 en route to improving his record to 7-3.
• Beyond Hosmer’s promotion and Duffy’s brilliant outing, there is even more encouraging news coming from the Wilmington Blue Rocks.  The Royals 2008, 2nd Round pick, 2B-Johnny Giavotella has started to heat up after a very slow start.  Coming into the season Baseball America had Giavotella ranked 11th among Royals prospects after a solid debut with the Burlington Bees in 2008.  On the season he is hitting 0.247/.367/.351, but for the month of July has hit 0.305/.406/.356.  The most encouraging sign for Royals fans is that he seems to actually grasp the concept of plate discipline.  He has drawn 54 walks while striking out only 38 times.

The major league team still has serious issues, but some legitimate parts in the low minors are starting to emerge.  There is hope on the horizon if the front office remains patient.