The White Sox and Royals have been running on parallel tracks not just with personnel, but with real estate ambitions.
Ever since John Sherman assumed ownership of the Royals, he's been angling to move them to a new ballpark somewhere in Kansas City. After an exploration of various sites, they settled on a $1 billion ballpark in the Crossroads area downtown, and proposed a 40-year extension of the 3/8 cent sales tax currently used to pay off the debt for the renovations to Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums. The Chiefs would also benefit from the plan, as they'd use the Kauffman Stadium site to free up space for a major renovation of the Arrowhead site.
The question was put to a public vote on Tuesday, and it failed by a convincing margin, with "No" winning by a 58-42 spread. Reading the accounts from the Kansas City Star and Royals Review, it seems like while the public may be wising up to the idea of using public funds for billionaire vanity projects, the campaign for the new ballpark was also run in an a slapdash fashion. The pivot to the downtown site was so late that the White Sox's freshly formed South Loop plans beat them to the renderings stage. The Chiefs' plans were equally grandiose and vague, and there's the matter that the sales tax wouldn't cover the bulk of the construction, and there were no guarantees that more public money wouldn't be involved.
(Also, both plans had a noticeable lack of parking, at least for a fan base that's accustomed to large lots.)
There isn't a clear fallback plan for either team, and the uncertainty creates space for fearmongering about relocation, whether across State Line Road or out of the Kansas City area entirely. It's worth watching the process and aftermath as we watch the White Sox try to garner support for The 78 project, especially if they're required to shackle themselves to the Bears.
Spare Parts
Reynaldo López, who pretty much ditched his curveball over a fastball-slider-changeup mix during his years with the White Sox, brought it back to pseudo-prominence in his start Tuesday night. What's weird is that it used to be more of a power curve offering, but he's throwing it 5 mph slower with Atlanta.
Production from designated hitters has never been lower, and Hannah Keyser explores all the reasons for it. Teams are content to use the spot for flexibility, while players who might be best-suited for DHing want to avoid being pigeonholed, so neither side wants to sink a lot of time into becoming a David Ortiz-like fixture, even if a bat-first position only offers average production now.
With Sammy Peralta off the White Sox 40-man roster, the only vulnerable players left are all ones acquired after Chris Getz took over as GM.
When the Pirates acquired the former No. 2 overall pick from San Francisco, it made me realize that I hadn't heard any updates about Yasmani Grandal since he'd signed with Pittsburgh. It turns out he has plantar fasciitis, which raises the question about how anybody would be able to tell.
Ronel Blanco's no-hitter on Monday would've died with one out in the ninth were it not for the defense of José Abreu, who made a diving stop and an on-target throw from the seat of his pants for the 3-1 putout. This quote jumped out to me:
“Every single no-hitter I’ve been a part of, I’ve always gotten that one ground ball in the ninth inning,” Abreu said.
I looked at the game logs for Lucas Giolito and Carlos Rodón no-nos, and while he nearly ripped his leg from his hip socket stretching for a 3-unassisted putout in the latter, he didn't have a grounder hit to him in the former. Maybe he's thinking of the foul ball he had to chase down the line until Adam Engel called him off, or maybe it's just stolen valor.
Jason Bourgeois' minute-long absence from the coaching box on Monday was an opportunity for Pedro Grifol to show a sense of humor that will be sorely needed this season. The guy just doesn't have it in him:
“JB is a great coach, really technical, detailed,” Grifol said. “He checks a lot of boxes every single day before he gets out on the field. We had our rain delay, he had his headphones on, he was knee-deep into positioning. The game started and he got caught.”
It wasn’t a good look, especially as the delay dragged on, and as Grifol said, “it’s unfortunate because it becomes a story. But this guy is a really good coach. He really cares for this team and his job so I’m good with it.
“I know the person, I know what he brings to the table every day, how diligent he is about his work.”
If you drew a different conclusion and wondered if "positioning" was a new euphemism, so do some pros who know:
