Royals owner on rumors of team being for sale: “Nonsense”

By Aaron GleemanMay 8, 2012, 3:25 PM EDT
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Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star writes that “the rumors and whispers are escalating again” about Royals owner David Glass potentially selling the team.

However, the former Wal-Mart president and CEO put an end to that speculation immediately:

Nonsense. I’ve never spoken to anyone about selling the club. I have no idea where that comes from. Who knows? But I have not been contacted by anyone. Everybody in baseball knows that I’m committed, and my family is committed; that we’re going to own the Royals, and that the Royals are going to be in Kansas City and that we’re going to make the team a contender again.

Glass added that he’s not even interested in selling a minor stake in the team, of which he became sole owner in 2000. Since then the Royals have had one winning season, going 83-79 in 2003, and have finished in fourth or fifth place in the five-team division 11 times in 12 years.

Hunter Pence is mashing for the Rangers

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
By Bill BaerMay 20, 2019, 10:37 PM EDT
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Hunter Pence was thought to be on his way to retirement after a lackluster 2018 season with the Giants. As he entered his mid-30’s, Pence spent a considerable amount of time on the injured list, playing in 389 out of 648 possible regular season games with the Giants from 2015-18.

Pence, however, kept his career going, inking a minor league deal with the Rangers in February. He performed very well in spring training, earning a spot on the Opening Day roster. Pence hasn’t stopped hitting.

Entering Monday night’s game against the Mariners, Pence was batting .299/.358/.619 with eight home runs and 28 RBI in 109 plate appearances, mostly as a DH. Statcast agrees that Pence has been mashing the ball. He has an average exit velocity of 93.3 MPH this season, which would obliterate his marks in each of the previous four seasons since Statcast became a thing. His career average exit velocity is 89.8 MPH. He has “barreled” the ball 10.4 percent of the time, well above his 6.2 percent average.

What Pence did to a baseball in the seventh inning of Monday’s game, then, shouldn’t come as a surprise.

That’s No. 9 on the year for Pence. Statcast measured it at 449 feet and 108.3 MPH off the bat. Not only is Pence not retired, he may be a lucrative trade chip for the Rangers leading up to the trade deadline at the end of July.