Kansas
Keeping Michael Massey in Kansas City isn’t helping anyone
Michael Massey is easy to root for. We’ve all seen athletes who are full of themselves, and frankly you want athletes to have a little swagger—it’s a mentally demanding profession where fans can switch from giving you love to sending you death threats.
But some players come across as good guys, and in Massey’s case, that’s true for the folks who work with him. There’s an award given by the Kansas City chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America called the Mike Swanson Good Guy Award, and Massey has won it in back-to-back years.
So when Massey struggled out of the gate this year, fans weren’t particularly phased. In part, this is because Massey was legitimately good at the plate last year. In part, it’s because other players—MJ Melendez, Hunter Renfroe, Cavan Biggio—drew the lion’s share of the ire, and a fanbase can’t get mad about everybody (most of the time).
Now, all three of those other players are no longer with the team. Massey, however, is, though he really shouldn’t be. Per Fangraphs’ version of Wins Above Replacement, there are 17 players this year with 100 or more plate appearances and less than -0.5 WAR. Of this 287-player set, Massey is fourth-worst at -0.9 WAR. The others worse than him? Andrew Vaughn, who the White Sox optioned to Triple-A. The aforementioned Renfroe, who the Royals cut recently. And LaMonte Wade Jr., whose recent track record is enough to keep him on the field for longer.
What has happened to Massey? Well, the answer might be what hasn’t happened to Massey? Just about everything is worse in his hitting portfolio: he’s walking at a career worst level, he’s barreling balls at a career worst level, his average and max exit velocity are at career lows, his hard hit rate is at a career low. It hasn’t been good.
This also does not feel good. To put this into, like, normal people terms, doing this poorly for such a long time is like playing Overwatch or Counter-Strike or League of Legends and getting into a big losing streak. This sucks, and when you’re in the middle of the losing streak, you’re more likely to be grumpy to teammates and see your performance go down, which begets more losing and bad play. Massey probably isn’t a Hanzo main or anything, but that doesn’t matter because we can see how he’s reacting to screwups like this popup on Sunday’s game: he’s mad at himself!
We have reached the point in the season where keeping Massey up in Kansas City isn’t helping anybody. It’s not helping Kansas City, where Massey is now functionally the second-worst hitter in the league and an offensive black hole. It is also not helping Massey, who looks just plain lost out there. If he’s going to get back on track, it is not going to be here in Kansas City, where he is making outs at a huge clip.
Frankly, I don’t think there’s a route forward for Massey to be a productive big leaguer regardless what he does. It all comes down to getting on base, which he does not do. In about 1,200 plate appearances, Massey’s on base percentage is .277. That’s just not going to cut it, especially when you look at his historical exit velocities and barrel rates, which aren’t high enough to yield the power that he needs to produce to overcome such a low OBP.
Who could take Massey’s place? There are two options. One is a like-for-like replacement, with infielder Cam Devanney getting the call. Devanney is a 28-year-old who is in his fourth year in Triple-A, but he’s crushing it this year to the tune of a .301/.382/.618 triple slash. The other option is a lefty-for-lefty callup with Jac Caglianone taking Massey’s spot. Realistically, that’s probably what’s likely to happen—in a few weeks at minimum.
So yeah, it might stink to send Massey down, as he’s been an exemplary teammate and ambassador for the team. But this is a results-based business, and the results have been so poor in such a way that nobody is really benefiting from the reunion right now. I wish it wasn’t the case. I, too, would like Massey to succeed. It’s just not happening.
Cooler temperatures today, but we will keep a chance of thunderstorms going in south-central Kansas this morning. One or two could be strong.
Temperatures stay cooler in southern Kansas thanks to clouds and rain in the area. Warmer temps and sunshine to the north.
Another chance of severe weather will visit Kansas this weekend, with a complex of strong storms rolling across the area Saturday night.
KSN Storm Track 3 Forecast from Meteorologist Jack Maney:
Wichita:
Today: Mostly cloudy. 60% chance of showers and storms. Hi: 80 Wind: NE 8-18
Tonight: Mostly to partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers. Lo: 62 Wind: NE/E 5-15
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms. Hi: 85 Wind: E/SE 5-15
Tomorrow Night: Partly to mostly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms. Lo: 68 Wind: SE 5-15
Wichita Weekly
Sat: Hi: 87 Lo: 73 Partly to mostly cloudy. 50% chance of showers and storms.
Sun: Hi: 92 Lo: 67 Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms.
Mon: Hi: 82 Lo: 65 Partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers and storms.
Tue: Hi: 84 Lo: 66 Partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers and storms.
Wed: Hi: 86 Lo: 68 Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms.
Thu: Hi: 88 Lo: 69 Partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers and storms.
SOUTHWEST: Dodge City, Garden City, Liberal, Greensburg, Guymon
Southwest:
Today: Partly to mostly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms. Hi: 84 Wind: NE/E 10-25
Tonight: Mostly to partly cloudy. Lo: 58 Wind: E/SE 5-15
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms. Hi: 85 Wind: SE 8-18
Tomorrow Night: Partly to mostly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms. Lo: 62 Wind: SE 5-15
Southwest Weekly
Sat: Hi: 92 Lo: 66 Mostly cloudy. 40% chance of showers and storms.
Sun: Hi: 91 Lo: 59 Mostly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms.
Mon: Hi: 82 Lo: 58 Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms.
Tue: Hi: 83 Lo: 60 Mostly to partly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms.
Wed: Hi: 85 Lo: 61 Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms.
Thu: Hi: 89 Lo: 62 Partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers and storms.
NORTHWEST: Colby, Goodland, Hill City, Oberlin, McCook
Northwest:
Today: Partly cloudy to mostly sunny. Hi: 86 Wind: NE/E 5-15
Tonight: Mostly clear to partly cloudy. Lo: 61 Wind: E/S 5-15
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms. Hi: 86 Wind: S/SE 8-18
Tomorrow Night: Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms. Lo: 61 Wind: SE 5-15
Northwest Weekly
Sat: Hi: 90 Lo: 61 Partly to mostly cloudy. 50% chance of showers and storms.
Sun: Hi: 84 Lo: 55 Mostly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms.
Mon: Hi: 78 Lo: 56 Mostly to partly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms.
Tue: Hi: 82 Lo: 58 Partly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms.
Wed: Hi: 85 Lo: 59 Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms.
Thu: Hi: 87 Lo: 60 Partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers and storms.
NORTHCENTRAL: Salina, Great Bend, Hays, Russell, Beloit, Osborne
North Central:
Today: Mostly to partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers and storms. Hi: 83 Wind: NE 8-18
Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lo: 60 Wind: NE/SE 5-15
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms. Hi: 86 Wind: SE 8-18
Tomorrow Night: Partly to mostly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms. Lo: 66 Wind: SE 5-15
North Central Weekly
Sat: Hi: 88 Lo: 70 Partly to mostly cloudy. 70% chance of showers and storms.
Sun: Hi: 88 Lo: 63 Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of showers and storms.
Mon: Hi: 81 Lo: 62 Mostly to partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers and storms.
Tue: Hi: 84 Lo: 64 Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms.
Wed: Hi: 86 Lo: 66 Partly cloudy. 20% chance of showers and storms.
Thu: Hi: 88 Lo: 67 Partly cloudy. 10% chance of showers and storms.
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Kansas fire department is asking people to be more careful about what they throw away.
The Mulvane Fire Department was called to a vehicle fire Wednesday afternoon. The driver of a trash truck had smelled something burning and pulled over to call 911.
When firefighters arrived, they found smoke coming from the back of the truck. In the trash bay, a firefighter discovered a discarded laptop computer with a lithium battery that was heating up.
The department said it was able to remove the battery from the truck and flood the truck with water to cool off the trash. This is the second incident involving a lithium battery crews have responded to this month, according to Mulvane Fire.
Lithium is highly reactive, and when batteries are damaged, they can heat up uncontrollably. The reaction cascades, with the battery getting hotter and hotter until all of the lithium is consumed. In some cases, when exposed to oxygen, lithium can ignite instantly.
The fire department is urging residents to never throw computers or anything with batteries in the trash. Sedgwick County offers this free recycling guide with information on how to properly dispose of a wide variety of household goods and chemicals.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A power outage is affecting parts of the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium, leaving some areas and services temporarily limited.
The Zoo announced the outage on Wednesday morning, June 17, saying the webstore and other services may be unavailable while crews work to restore power.
Evergy’s outage map shows the disruption – located near the zoo – is affecting 17 customers. The outage was first reported just before 8:50 a.m. Power is expected to be restored around 10:30 a.m.
The Zoo is asking for the public’s patience as Evergy works to resolve the issue.
The cause of the outage has not yet been identified.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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