KC Royals News: Roster moves, no apparent haven for former star, and more

The beleaguered KC Royals, owners of the second-worst record in the majors, made a roster move Thursday morning when they demoted outfielder Nate Eaton to Triple-A Omaha. Eaton, who started last season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas but ended up playing 44 games for the Royals, was just 3-for-52 (.058) this year.

The club didn't immediately announce who'll take Eaton's place on the active roster, but a likely candidate is Drew Waters, who appears ready for his first major league action of the season after recently scorching minor league pitching during his injury rehab assignment at Omaha.

The Royals will add whoever replaces Eaton before they play Washington Friday evening to open the last series of their current homestand before finishing May with two games at St. Louis.

Kansas City also sent reliever Max Castillo back to Omaha Wednesday and brought up reliever Nick Wittgren. Wittgren pitched unimpressively against Detroit that night—in two innings, he gave up two runs, three hits, and walked three.

Don't look for this former KC Royals star to become a Royal again

Almost a full week after the Cubs designated first baseman-DH Eric Hosmer for assignment, no obvious signs point to him landing with a new club anytime soon. And it's a safe bet he won't be returning to Kansas City, at least not in a Royals uniform; in fact, the prospect of Hosmer coming back to the team with which he contributed so much to two American League pennant winners and a World Series champion, won four Gold Gloves, and became a fan favorite, doesn't, as the Kansas City Star's Pete Grathoff reports, strike KC manager Matt Quatraro favorably.

So, don't expect general manager J.J. Picollo to pursue Hosmer.

Can the KC Royals manage to reach the 20-victory mark before May ends?

The misery of the Royals' season continued Wednesday night with another loss, this time at the hands of surprising Detroit, which beat them 6-4 to win the clubs' three-game series. The defeat left Kansas City 21 games under .500 at 15-36 and put them on pace to lose a shade over 114 games.

Can they move their win total to 20 before the second full month of the campaign ends? Hopefully, but probably not—to do so, they'd have to win all of their remaining games, an improbable task requiring them to sweep three games from Washington this weekend and two against the Cardinals on the road. Kansas City's 20th triumph, then, will in all likelihood be a June, not May, event.