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Time: 7:10 Central. Vegas Line: -190 MIN / +180 KC
Weather: 25% Chance Of Rain, Start Temp 81°
Opponent’s excellent SB site: Royals Review
TV: FSN. Radio: If your signal is crackling, that’s lightning somewhere nearby
23-year-old righthander Brad Keller has a 95-ish straight fastball, one that sinks, and a slider. He doesn’t strike out too many guys, doesn’t walk an unreasonable amount, while his groundball tendencies keep homers away. That makes him probably Kansas City’s best starter, with the upside of being very young. The less-than-upside is he’s unlikely to get much better without a strikeout pitch. Would have fit well on the early-00s Twins, assuming he’s a nice guy, and was born 20 years earlier.
Thing are just tough in Royals land right now. They finished right behind Baltimore for the game’s worst record last season, and are well in the running to win worst record this year (along with, surprise surprise, Baltimore again).
Per Mark Feinsand at MLB.com, the Royals have put essentially everybody over 25 up for sale — a harsher version of Logan’s Run. This is manager Ned Yost’s tenth season in Kansas City, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he got canned at some point, although he hasn’t exactly been given much to work with. Bradford Lee at Royals Review runs down the failings of Yost, the owners, the front office, entire shebang.
To give you an indication of how wonky their roster is, Kansas City has been using Ian Kennedy to save games (the first time he’s done so in a 13-year career). He would actually be wiped out in the normal version of Logan’s Run.