Around The Kingdom: Danny Duffy, Brandon Flowers, Jake Heaps, and MU Football

The Royals are the hottest team in baseball, winning their 7th straight game on Sunday. Hitting, pitching, and defense are all simultaneously performing well for the first time all season.

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They have picked a great time to put it all together, since they now head to Detroit for a showdown series with the Tigers. If the Royals can pull off a series “win” of the four-game set, Kansas City will take over 1st place in the Central. They currently trail 1st place Detroit by a mere 1.5 games.

Who would have believed the Royals would be in this position two weeks ago, right after they lost 3 straight games to the woeful Houston Astros?

Not me.

Kansas City Chiefs fans are still trying to digest Brandon Flowers‘ release on Friday. Many speculate that a deal for QB Alex Smith will soon follow with the $7.5 million GM John Dorsey freed up in 2014 cap space. But, what will losing Flowers mean for the secondary?

Right now, inter-collegiate sports are pretty much on a hiatus in the KC Kingdom. None of Kansas State University, University of Kansas, or University of Missouri has a major sports team with an active season. Both the Tigers and Jayhawks, however, are trying to access how their football teams will perform with the 2014 football season starting in a little over two months.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

• Arrowhead Addict – Ben Nielsen has three quick thoughts on the secondary after Brandon Flowers’ departure

"John Dorsey has already displayed a willingness to cut a player at any time in order to take a shot at a young prospect, Cooper being the prime example of Dorsey’s willingness to make bold moves. With Dorsey being on record before the draft about the cornerback position being one of the deepest in this past year’s draft, it would seem to stand to reason there will be a corner or two cut after the preseason that may be attractive to Dorsey."

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

• Kings of Kauffman – Hunter Samuels has a great piece that digs into stats on Danny Duffy’s fantastic fastball
• Rany on the Royals – Royals super-blogger Rany Jazayerli emerges from hibernation to write about the team’s June resurgence

"The end result is that a franchise which was teetering on a revolution two weeks ago – forget the fan base or deranged bloggers, even Ken Rosenthal had written an article hinting that a major shake-up might be necessary soon – has righted the ship"

KANSAS JAYHAWKS

• KUSports.com – Matt Tait reports that former KU starting QB Jake Heaps will transfer to Miami

"The former No. 1 ranked pro style passer in his high school class is on track to graduate from KU later this month. Doing so will make him eligible to play at Miami immediately via the same senior transfer rule that brought Dayne Crist from Notre Dame to KU in 2012."

MISSOURI TIGERS

• Truman’s Tales – Derek Franks takes issue with Vegas’ projected wins for the Tigers upcoming football season

"Mizzou’s placement in these projections certainly isn’t all bad news bears. The program definitely landed on everyone’s radar after last season’s campaign. But these odds aren’t generous enough in my book. The team earned a better spot on the list."

There you have it – the news from Around The Kingdom.