KC Royals Midweek Musings: Player issues potpourri

This week’s KC Royals Midweek Musings includes updates on player issues and other team-related tidbits.

Some KC Royals Midweek Musings while wondering, once again, when the offense will kick in:

Salvador Perez.  Catcher Salvador Perez , enjoying a superb comeback season, missed Sunday’s game at Minnesota with blurriness. He returned to the lineup Monday, but left after the issue reoccurred.

Jeffrey Flanagan, mlb.com’s Kansas City beat writer, provided this update Tuesday afternoon, including specifics of the problem:

It remains uncertain, then, when Perez will rejoin the lineup. Backup catchers Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria will handle the backstop duties until he does.

Matt Harvey to start against Cincinnati.  Matt Harvey, known best to KC Royals fans as the Met who stayed too long in the fifth game of the 2015 World Series, is now a Royal and is scheduled to start the second game of today’s doubleheader against the Reds.

Harvey signed a free agent deal with Kansas City and has been working at the club’s alternate site since late last month. His 13-8 record for the National League champion Mets in 2015 is his big league best; he’ll be forever famous for convincing his manager to leave him in for the ninth inning of World Series Game 5. The Mets led the Royals 2-0, but Harvey let a run score and put the tying run on base before departing. KC tied the game and then won it, and the Series, in extra innings.

He’s struggled since 2016, a season that ended for him with thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. A 7-7. 4.50 ERA effort with the Reds in 2018 is Harvey’s best since 2015. He’s 44-49 over seven big league seasons.

Doubleheader today.  The Royals were scheduled to host Cincinnati Tuesday in the first game of their two-game series but, as an apparent continuation of baseball’s cautious approach to the Reds after a player tested positive for COVID-19 several days ago, the contest was postponed until today. It will be contested as part of a twin-bill slated to begin at 4:05 p.m.

It looks like the KC Royals will again miss playing against former Royal Mike Moustakas, who was on the Injured List when the clubs split two games in Cincinnati last week. He remained on the List as of late Tuesday night. Former Royal Christian Colon did face his old team, though, the Reds designated him for assignment last Friday and sent him to their alternate site Monday.

Cincinnati hasn’t played since Friday. Assuming the Royals and Reds complete their twin bill tonight, they won’t play again this season.

Royals have TJS.  Two more KC Royals have now had Tommy John surgery. Foster Griffin, who started one game for the club this season, recently confirmed his operation, and prospect Daniel Tillo, a member of KC’s Player Pool, also had the surgery.

Current Royals Greg Holland, Danny Duffy, Trevor Rosenthal, Salvador Perez, Glenn Sparkman, and Harvey have also undergone the procedure.

Brooks, Aoki, Escobar.  Aaron Brooks, a former Royal hurler now pitching for the Kia Tigers in the KBO League, won four straight decisions before suffering a loss last week. He’s now 7-4 with a 2.70 ERA.

Nori Aoki, a member of the 2014 American League Champion Royals, has seven home runs and a .308 average for Japan’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and former KC shortstop Alcides Escobar has a homer and is hitting .288 for the same club.

Simulation update.  It’s become obvious baseball-reference.com will complete its simulated 2020 season that began during Major League Baseball’s pandemic-forced hiatus.

A 2-5 record in their last seven games forced the virtual Royals into last place in the American League Central Division, 33.5 games behind first place Cleveland and two games behind fourth place Detroit.

Ryan O’Hearn leads the Royals with 21 home runs, Jorge Soler has 67 RBIs and Whit Merrifield’s .316 average is Kansas City’s best.

Jorge Lopez isn’t an actual Royal anymore, but remains on the simulated roster and leads the club with seven wins. Danny Duffy and Brad Keller each have 13 losses; Ian Kennedy has 11 saves.

The Yankees, A’s, Indians, Nationals, Cardinals and Dodgers lead their respective divisions.

The simulation is updated daily, usually around noon.

That’s it for this week. We’ll be back next week with more KC Royals Midweek Musings. Until then, stay safe and healthy.