Splash hits: A new voice in the Royals radio booth, it's contact tender day and a familiar bullpen arm is ready for his return

The Royals have been a content goldmine this week. Let's finish it off with some thoughts on items that may have been missed.

The Royals have made more news in a random week in November than they do most weeks when they’re actually playing baseball. So it’s time to dust off the old notebook and drop a few thoughts on some items that may have been missed in what has been a whirlwind few days.

But before we get started, thanks once again for your subscriptions and your support. I write this every so often, but it truly is an honor to have you read this newsletter. I’m writing tonight as the latest round of “Twitter is on its last legs” saga continues. It sounds as though employees don’t like the idea of being “extremely hardcore.” Pro tip: Never work for someone who uses the phrase “extremely hardcore.” Also, never work for someone who uses the word “swagger.” Guaranteed poser.

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Big news not associated with new stadiums or a lifetime contract for Ryan O’Hearn…the Royals will have a new voice in the radio (and sometimes TV) booth next summer. Steve Physioc announced his retirement from broadcasting after 43 years in the business. He has called Royals games since 2012.

It’s a helluva career when you get to call games for your hometown team. Physioc is also a published author which is incredibly cool. I’m sure that if you asked Physioc, he would tell you the last decade or so has been the highlight of his career.

To replace Physioc in the booth, the Royals tapped Jake Eisenberg who spent the last two years calling Storm Chasers games in Omaha. He filled in for a couple of Royals games last season and got some other major league exposure substituting for Howie Rose on New York Mets radio broadcasts for around 40 games. Eisenberg is 27 which absolutely blows my mind. As a broadcasting geek myself I think it’s incredibly cool that he’s getting this job. Don’t let his age lead you to think he’s lacking experience. He’s paid his dues and is plenty ready for this gig. I’ve listened to him call Chasers games and then this year while he was pinch-hitting on Mets radio. He’s a rising talent and the real deal and the Royals are fortunate to have him in the booth. (Kind of takes the sting out of losing Robert Ford to the Astros if you ask me.)

Between the new manager and a new voice in the broadcast booth, I’m just insanely excited to get to Opening Day. So much about the Royals feels new.

Dayton Moore (remember him?) gave an interview to the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast this week.

I feel as though, after 16+ years of having Moore as the leader of the Royals front office, we have a decent idea who he is as a person and as a baseball executive. I think there’s a career for him in teaching leadership seminars, or as some sort of consultant, if that’s a path he’d ever like to pursue.

So there wasn’t a lot of new ground covered in the podcast. Moore did say he was “shocked and surprised” at his firing by Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman. Moore said that he “didn’t see it coming.” Moore feels that the Royals are on the right path.

I’m not sure what path Moore was on, but it sure didn’t feel like the right one. We’ve been over this before and there’s really no need to rehash it again and again, but there was a certain kind of organizational rot that was setting in—a reluctance to adapt and evolve in a game that is constantly changing. And that, to me, is why the change in leadership is so exciting. After 16 years we are going to see what new leadership in the organization can bring. This change feels cathartic.

Moore did say there were things he could’ve done differently with the new ownership group. He doesn’t say this, but it sounds like he didn’t much enjoy working with the new executives who came along with Sherman. He also said he has had numerous opportunities come his way to say in the game and those opportunities have come from all levels. He said though that he expects to be with a team in Spring Training and will probably have a new gig lined up in a couple of weeks. The mention of Spring Training made me think…Wouldn’t it be wild if Moore landed with the Rangers?

One thing I didn’t expect to hear: Moore is not a fan of instant replay in baseball. He voted against it when it was up for a vote at the GM meetings and remains unconvinced that it’s beneficial to the game.

Maybe I need to rethink my position on Moore. Anyone against instant replay is a friend of mine.

A roster move that may have been missed: The Royals selected the contract of Richard Lovelady last week.

Lovelady underwent Tommy John surgery in September of 2021 and the Royals, in a procedural roster move to get him off the 40-man, released him at the end of November last year and then promptly re-signed him to a minor league contract so he could rehab from his injury.

He made it back to the mound last September, throwing four innings in four appearances for Northwest Arkansas and Omaha. He struck out nine and walked just one. That’s a helluva return to action, especially coming back from Tommy John. Usually, a pitcher’s control is the last thing that he can dial in after that surgery. One walk in four innings is extremely encouraging. And so are the nine strikeouts!

He would’ve been exposed to the Rule 5 draft, so the Royals added him to the 40-man roster. The lefty should be in the mix for a spot in the Royals bullpen this spring.

More transactions are coming on Friday, as it’s the deadline for clubs to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players. I wrote about the players eligible for arbitration and the Royals’ payroll situation last month.

The Royals cleared a couple of names off the list already. They lost Luke Weaver to Seattle in a waiver claim and signed O’Hearn to that dastardly one-year contract.

Going down the players remaining on the list, the locks for a contract tender continue to be Scott Barlow, Nicky Lopez, Josh Staumont, Brady Singer and Kris Bubic. I think Amir Garrett and Taylor Clarke gets tendered as well.

That leaves Adalberto Mondesi and Brad Keller. It’s my thinking that Mondesi will get tendered a contract as the injuries have really held back his earning power. MLB Trade Rumors estimates he will earn $3 million next year. Keller is a different story. Exiled to the bullpen at the end of last season, he’s due a raise of around $7 million. Yeah, the Royals need pitching but they can shop around the fringes of the market and find someone who can deliver the same kind of results at a lower cost. My guess is that Keller doesn’t get tendered.

We will get the news sometime in the afternoon. A reminder: tendering a contract isn’t the same as a player and club agreeing to a contract, it simply signals intent. Some players may very well agree to a deal on Friday. For most, it will just be a procedural move to keep them in the organization.

If a contract is tendered, teams and players can continue to negotiate deals throughout the winter. The next deadline in the arbitration process is January 13 which is when both sides need to formally exchange numbers prior to heading to an arbitration hearing.

The Royals handed out their team awards this week, as voted on by the Kansas City chapter of the BBWAA. Bobby Witt Jr. was named the Player of the Year, Brady Singer captured the Pitcher of the Year and Salvador Perez won the award for Special Achievement.

I was again honored to submit a vote and will, as usual, detail my thought process behind my ballot…Things just kind of got in the way this week.

Instead, I’ll drop a little teaser here and say that I voted for two of the three winners. I’ll leave you to speculate until next week.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

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