Lorenzo Cain and Chris Getz Activated From DL

Lorenzo Cain opened the year as the everyday center fielder for the Royals. In the fifth game of the year, on a rainy night in Oakland, he made a catch of a deep drive towards the wall in right-center and was limping after. At first it was considered a strained groin, then was found to be a torn hip flexor.

Now, after a couple of false starts at rehab assignments, Cain will be activated and play after the All-Star break.

Along with him, Chris Getz will return at the end of the week. Getz had been sidelined since mid-June with a strained leg.

To open up a spot on the active roster, the Royals optioned Nate Adcock back to Omaha along with Irving Falu. Activating Cain filled the Royals last open 40 man roster spot (after claiming catcher Adam Moore from Seattle put them at 39).

Adcock made one appearance in his most recent trip to Kansas City, filling in for 4.1 innings after Bruce Chen gave up six runs in 3.1 innings. Adcock threw 4.1 innings and gave up two runs, though neither were earned. He has a 2.67 ERA in 30.1 innings in the big leagues in 2012. He’s been back and forth on I-29 five different times this year.

Falu has appeared in 15 games in Kansas City with 17 hits in 53 at bats, five of them for extra bases. He’ll make way for Getz, who had a .290/.327/.380 line when he went on the DL, then had four hits in 24 rehab at bats with Omaha.

The Royals now have Cain, Jarrod Dyson and Jason Bourgeois on the big league roster, which is pretty redundant, but I’d think that Cain will have to prove his health at first and won’t play every day, so the Royals will probably use a platoon on his off days. Cain spent 20 days on his rehab assignment but didn’t play every day and DH’ed often, so the Royals probably won’t rush him back. Once the 20 days were up on the rehab assignment, though, they had to do something with him.