Outside The Confines: Kansas City, here I come

I’m going to be brief(er) today. If you’ve read my prospect rankings this week and you still want to hear more from me, then you’re in love with my writing a lot more than I am.

• There was a three-way deal between the Red Sox, Royals and Mets that sent outfielder Andrew Beintendi to the Royals, outfielder Franchy Cordero to Boston and outfield prospect Khalil Lee to the Mets. There’s also another minor league player involved as well as some players to be named later. Maybe they should be named Brenda. You don’t see a lot of Brendas anymore.
• Benintendi is excited to be playing for Royals manager Mike Matheny, as he’s been friends with Matheny’s son for several years. Matheny is excited to manage Benintendi as well.
• Dan Szymborski evaluates the players traded and notes that the Royals are hoping for a bounce-back season from Benintendi. Szymborski thinks a comeback is possible, but there are some worrying trends in Benintendi’s stats even before he got hurt last season.
• David Shoenfield agrees that trading for Benintendi was a “reasonable roll of the dice” (ESPN+ sub. req.) for the Royals.
• Fangraphs announced their preseason playoff odds for 2021 and Ben Clemens has some thoughts on what it predicts. Like the NL Central is going to be really bad.
• Baseball Prospectus also announced their preseason prediction of the final standings for 2021. They’re more optimistic on the NL Central, predicting just “meh” instead of “ugh.”
• But the thing that is getting the biggest notice on the BP prediction is that they have the Braves finishing fourth in the NL East with only 82 wins. Mike Petriello examines why the defending NL East champion Braves are forecasted for such a low total.
• Chris Cwik talks with BP head Craig Goldstein about the Braves predictions and the problems with forecasting after the 2020 season.
• A round table discussion on the AL East and whether or not the Yankees are the team to beat in 2021.
• New Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer held his first press conference and he said he’s learned from past experiences and that he’s committed to being better, both on and off the field.
• Molly Knight, one of the chief critics of the Dodgers signing Bauer, hopes that Bauer will be a better person but she was unimpressed with what he said in his press conference. Instead, Knight wrote a statement that she believes that Bauer should have delivered instead. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo lists some of the biggest misses they’ve had in evaluating prospects over the years. They weren’t alone on Paul Goldschmidt. No one but die-hard Diamondbacks fans thought Goldschmidt would ever be an All-Star. But those people thought Bobby Borchering would be a star too.
• Thomas Harding asks what could the Rockies have done differently in 2018 to avoid ending up like they are now? He’s really asking. He doesn’t know.
• This will make none of you happy. The price of MLB.tv is going up in 2021.
• Seven Negro Leagues have been recommended for “major league” status. If we’re awarding major league status to seven new leagues, can we take it away from the Union Association? Who would miss one 130 year old mediocre white league?
• This is about all sports and not just baseball, although baseball is included. Alex Kirshner examines what playing sports in a pandemic can tell us about what gives teams a home field advantage? Does playing without fans or in a bubble change the home field dynamic?
• Emma Baccellieri looks at the problem MLB is having with drones flying over stadiums. She explains why it’s a problem in the first place and what they’re trying to do about it. I think we all remember that Cubs game last year that was delayed by a drone.
• Padres pitcher Blake Snell got a laugh out of an exchange between his former team the Rays and Wendy’s restaurants on Twitter.
• Former Cubs affiliate the Boise Hawks are now an independent team in the Pioneer League. Here’s a look at the colorful history of pro baseball in Boise.
• It’s not a lawyer looking like a cat, but Judge Laura Ripken had a strange thing in her confirmation hearing to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. Her husband Cal Ripken Jr.’s disembodied head appeared on the screen during the Zoom call. (h/t Yahoo Sports)
• And finally, the big sensation on social media this past week was a viral video from a German comedian humorously trying to figure out baseball. My wife is very good at baseball because she is very good at stealing all the pillows.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. I finally get to sleep.