Royals facing major injury problems at the worst possible time

Just when it looked like the Kansas City Royals were announcing they plan on being buyers with the acquisition of Randall Grichuk, the team suffered its second potential injury setback of the day.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, the Royals received the terrible news that rookie first baseman/outfielder Jac Caglianone had suffered a left hamstring strain, and placed the young slugger on the 10-Day IL.

Then, late that same evening, well after the curtains had closed on their second game of their doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians, MLB.com's Anne Rogers reported that Kris Bubic could be dealing with an injury himself, citing shoulder stiffness.

Hamstring strain, shoulder issue cloud Kansas City Royals’ trade-deadline outlook

Caglianone reportedly first felt the tightness in his left hamstring as he was running down a double in the right-center gap during Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader. Then he felt it again while he was running up the first-base line on his double-play groundout in the bottom of the frame.

The acquisition of Grichuk came at just the right time, as he'll essentially replace Caglianone on the active roster for the time being. Granted, when general manager J.J. Picollo made the move, he likely thought that Grichuk would complement the rookie hitter, rather than replace him.

At this point, the Royals will have to hope that Caglianone will only have to miss the minimum. However, hamstring injuries have a habit of hanging around.

Then, after Game 2 of the doubleheader, the Royals got their second dose of bad news. Starting pitcher Kris Bubic struggled mightily, allowing 3 hits, 4 walks, and 4 runs (3 earned) in just 2.2 innings of work. Worse than a poor performance that led to a loss when the Royals badly need wins, it appears there's something wrong with the pitcher. Even worse, there's been something wrong for a while.

After the game, Rogers said that Bubic knows something isn't physically right and that he's "been dealing with shoulder stiffness for 'a good portion of the season'." The pitcher added that he'll see how he feels on Sunday, and the team will go from there.

Where do the Kansas City Royals go from here? If they were really planning on being buyers at the deadline, Kris Bubic being healthy was a big key. They'll need to hope he can shrug it off, or the team might end up switching gears just as they look ready to try and make a run.