Kansas City Royals news: The odyssey continues in Minnesota

Pasquantino was removed from the starting lineup in the ninth. He was replaced by Tyler Tolbert, who pinch-hit for him in the final inning. “Just soreness,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said after Tuesday’s game. “Same spot, you know, in his hand where the surgery was. Just general soreness in his hand. We’ve got to get in there and check it out and see how he feels later tonight and tomorrow.” Pasquantino missed nearly a month with a right hamate fracture in the same hand. He underwent surgery and returned on July 9, just before the All-Star break.

Pasquantino was removed from the starting lineup in the ninth. He was replaced by Tyler Tolbert, who pinch-hit for him in the final inning. “Just soreness,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said after Tuesday’s game. “Same spot, you know, in his hand where the surgery was. Just general soreness in his hand. We’ve got to get in there and check it out and see how he feels later tonight and tomorrow.” Pasquantino missed nearly a month with a right hamate fracture in the same hand. He underwent surgery and returned on July 9, just before the All-Star break.

Lugo felt his pitches weren’t getting to the right locations at Target Field. So he dove into some research and came out with a different game plan Tuesday. And it worked, for the most part. Lugo allowed one run across six innings while relying on his defense. The Royals turned five double plays against an aggressive Twins lineup. “I made a pretty significant adjustment to pitches I threw more than others today,” Lugo said. “You know, it worked out pretty good. Prefer to keep that information to myself, but pretty confident in what we decided to do today.”

Lugo felt his pitches weren’t getting to the right locations at Target Field. So he dove into some research and came out with a different game plan Tuesday. And it worked, for the most part. Lugo allowed one run across six innings while relying on his defense. The Royals turned five double plays against an aggressive Twins lineup. “I made a pretty significant adjustment to pitches I threw more than others today,” Lugo said. “You know, it worked out pretty good. Prefer to keep that information to myself, but pretty confident in what we decided to do today.”

Kansas City’s Opening Day third baseman Maikel Garcia began a rehab assignment at Double-A Northwest Arkansas, and MLB.com’s Anne Rogers has more on the situation.

What are they saying?
“We’ve got to take it one day at a time, but he’s felt really good in his progression, especially with the hitting. … It’s been very gradual. It started on the tee, then flips, then BP, and then we have the Trajekt machine that he’s been amping up the intensity with regular machine work as well. So he’s felt stronger. They’ve been testing the strength of his hand. It’s gotten better and better. He doesn’t feel any of the symptoms that he had before. The real test will be in the game.” –manager Matt Quatraro

What else?
This injury was an odd one, because Garcia only felt pain on certain swings and specifically on balls that he wasn’t squaring up well. That made it hard to assess and hard to rehab because he would feel healthy in the batting cage taking good swings. In games, though, it’s harder to predict what and where pitches are coming and what swing you’re going to take off each one. As Garcia began swinging again in his rehab process, he experimented with different bats and different machine work in the cages using the Trajekt machine.

What are they saying?
“We’ve got to take it one day at a time, but he’s felt really good in his progression, especially with the hitting. … It’s been very gradual. It started on the tee, then flips, then BP, and then we have the Trajekt machine that he’s been amping up the intensity with regular machine work as well. So he’s felt stronger. They’ve been testing the strength of his hand. It’s gotten better and better. He doesn’t feel any of the symptoms that he had before. The real test will be in the game.” –manager Matt Quatraro

What else?
This injury was an odd one, because Garcia only felt pain on certain swings and specifically on balls that he wasn’t squaring up well. That made it hard to assess and hard to rehab because he would feel healthy in the batting cage taking good swings. In games, though, it’s harder to predict what and where pitches are coming and what swing you’re going to take off each one. As Garcia began swinging again in his rehab process, he experimented with different bats and different machine work in the cages using the Trajekt machine.

“His back tightened up right after he came out of the game that he opened on Friday,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It hasn’t really relaxed that much. He got better this morning, and then it got worse during the day. And we just didn’t feel like we could go short. He’s not going to be able to pitch for a couple of days.” Way has posted a 3.86 ERA in 19 appearances. He has allowed four earned runs and recorded six strikeouts in his eight games (one start).

“His back tightened up right after he came out of the game that he opened on Friday,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It hasn’t really relaxed that much. He got better this morning, and then it got worse during the day. And we just didn’t feel like we could go short. He’s not going to be able to pitch for a couple of days.” Way has posted a 3.86 ERA in 19 appearances. He has allowed four earned runs and recorded six strikeouts in his eight games (one start).

Protesters’ heckling and chants cause a zoning meeting to end early regarding redevelopment plans for a downtown Royals stadium.

Last month, the group, along with Stand Up KC, delivered signatures to City Hall seeking to force a public vote on the city’s plan to contribute $600 million to fund the new $1.9 billion stadium. It’s unclear if it can stop the stadium, and Mayor Quinton Lucas has said that he’s anticipating construction to begin before a vote can derail it. The meeting ended about 15 minutes early. During a question-and-answer period, when presenters addressed prescreened questions from the crowd, a host announced they would end the meeting amid the ongoing outburst. Fran Marion, one of the protesters, said she showed up at the meeting to send a message about mismatched priorities. “We voted before. We told them no. You’re not hearing me, so let me come back and tell you again,” Marion said. “There’s more important things out here in Kansas City than a Royals Stadium.”

Last month, the group, along with Stand Up KC, delivered signatures to City Hall seeking to force a public vote on the city’s plan to contribute $600 million to fund the new $1.9 billion stadium. It’s unclear if it can stop the stadium, and Mayor Quinton Lucas has said that he’s anticipating construction to begin before a vote can derail it. The meeting ended about 15 minutes early. During a question-and-answer period, when presenters addressed prescreened questions from the crowd, a host announced they would end the meeting amid the ongoing outburst. Fran Marion, one of the protesters, said she showed up at the meeting to send a message about mismatched priorities. “We voted before. We told them no. You’re not hearing me, so let me come back and tell you again,” Marion said. “There’s more important things out here in Kansas City than a Royals Stadium.”

Power Ranking a year ago: 18
How they reacted: Acquired Randal Grichuk, Mike Yastrzemski, Bailey Falter, Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek
This year: Anyone need a lightly-used Michael Wacha?

Here’s the cautionary tale for about one-third of the league. Kansas City was nowhere near the division lead and 3 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot at last year’s deadline. While the Guardians sold and then got blazing hot, the Royals — fresh off a 2024 postseason appearance — added to their roster in moderation … then missed the playoffs by five games.

Going into Monday’s action, there were 10 teams — five in each league — that sat outside the playoff picture, but were within that same 3 1/2-game range of the last wild-card spot. (The Royals are not one of them.)

I feel confident guessing that all of them would prefer to avoid repeating the Royals’ 2025 outcome.

Power Ranking a year ago: 18
How they reacted: Acquired Randal Grichuk, Mike Yastrzemski, Bailey Falter, Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek
This year: Anyone need a lightly-used Michael Wacha?

Here’s the cautionary tale for about one-third of the league. Kansas City was nowhere near the division lead and 3 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot at last year’s deadline. While the Guardians sold and then got blazing hot, the Royals — fresh off a 2024 postseason appearance — added to their roster in moderation … then missed the playoffs by five games.

Going into Monday’s action, there were 10 teams — five in each league — that sat outside the playoff picture, but were within that same 3 1/2-game range of the last wild-card spot. (The Royals are not one of them.)

I feel confident guessing that all of them would prefer to avoid repeating the Royals’ 2025 outcome.

The biggest question about the clearly selling Royals is whether they’re willing to move 2026 All-Star pitcher Michael Wacha.

He is making $18M this season, could make up to $18M in 2027 and has a club option that could be as much as $18M in 2028. Even though he’s already 35 years old, it’s a desirable, controllable contract for what has been a consistently solid pitcher over the past half-decade.

But if the Royals move Wacha with two years remaining, are they also moving Seth Lugo, Vinnie Pasquantino, Daniel Lynch IV and Michael Massey with two years remaining?

They should completely shut down the Wacha chatter unless they’re prepared to really sell.

The biggest question about the clearly selling Royals is whether they’re willing to move 2026 All-Star pitcher Michael Wacha.

He is making $18M this season, could make up to $18M in 2027 and has a club option that could be as much as $18M in 2028. Even though he’s already 35 years old, it’s a desirable, controllable contract for what has been a consistently solid pitcher over the past half-decade.

But if the Royals move Wacha with two years remaining, are they also moving Seth Lugo, Vinnie Pasquantino, Daniel Lynch IV and Michael Massey with two years remaining?

They should completely shut down the Wacha chatter unless they’re prepared to really sell.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that the Royals aren’t the only team valuing their starting pitching trade chips highly.

Prices for pitching remain high: That’s what two “adding” teams have said six days out from the deadline. Asking prices to acquire starting pitchers — for the next few months or otherwise — remain sky high. It’s the norm for this time of year, which is mostly why everything happens so late. This year is no different. From pitchers like Brady Singer on cheap, expiring contracts to more controllable starters like the Los Angeles Angels duo of Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers, there’s not much of an opening for a deal that doesn’t involve a really good prospect going back. The one exception might be the pitchers with expensive expiring deals — such as Robbie Ray and Kevin Gausman. Pick up their entire contract and the prospect return won’t hurt as much. The waiting game continues. Eventually those prices should drop.

Prices for pitching remain high: That’s what two “adding” teams have said six days out from the deadline. Asking prices to acquire starting pitchers — for the next few months or otherwise — remain sky high. It’s the norm for this time of year, which is mostly why everything happens so late. This year is no different. From pitchers like Brady Singer on cheap, expiring contracts to more controllable starters like the Los Angeles Angels duo of Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers, there’s not much of an opening for a deal that doesn’t involve a really good prospect going back. The one exception might be the pitchers with expensive expiring deals — such as Robbie Ray and Kevin Gausman. Pick up their entire contract and the prospect return won’t hurt as much. The waiting game continues. Eventually those prices should drop.

ESPN’s Buster Olney looks at 12 deadline buyers “desperate” to make a deal, and it looks like there are plenty of teams in need of starting pitching.

FIFA member federations now have a Sept. 19 deadline in a deal to sell stakes in the World Cup.

Where did cyclospora even come from? That is just one of a mountain of questions.

Eric Dorfman, president of The Linda Hall Library, is trying to bring science to all Kansas Citians.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s first samurai film heads stateside after positive response on film festival scene.

Minnesota‘s ground-breaking law banning prediction markets halted by federal judge, citing “irreparable harm” if law came into effect.

The federal government bans foreign-made humanoid robots, citing national security concerns ahead of a visit from Chinese leader Xi Jinping,

Today’s song of the day is Too Young To Die by Buffalo Traffic Jam.