Kansas City Royals Add Wade Davis to Disabled List
The Kansas City Royals have added closer Wade Davis to their disabled list due to a right forearm strain. Is this it for the Royals’ season, or can they recover?
On Tuesday, the Kansas City Royals announced that All-Star closer Wade Davis was headed to the 15-day disabled list with a right forearm strain. The 30-year-old reliever has been one of the biggest keys to the Royals’ success over the past few seasons, as the Kansas City bullpen has consistently ranked best in the league.
To fill the vacancy left by Davis, the Royals have called on rookie Brooks Pounders – a 2009 draft pick with a 3.75 career minor league ERA. With all due respect to Pounders, he’s no Wade Davis.
Heading into play on Wednesday, the Royals are eight games back in the division, with Cleveland’s 51-32 record setting the pace for the AL Central. Kansas City has also fallen a half-game behind the Tigers, dropping to third place. With the recent loss of outfielder Lorenzo Cain as well, one has to wonder – is this it for the Royals?
Davis is important to the Royals, but no, this isn’t the end for last year’s World Series winners. Kansas City is set to get Kris Medlen and Mike Minor back as early as July, and Cain’s hamstring injury is far from the end of his season. The All-Star break is approaching, which will give the entire team a much-needed rest. Despite the bad news about Davis, there is plenty of good news on the horizon.
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However, the Royals can only hang in there without him for a short period of time. Anchored by Davis, the bullpen has been the strong point of this year’s team. The rotation has struggled and just isn’t capable of going deep into games, and the relievers have logged a lot of innings. They’ve logged 287.1, to be exact, the second most in the AL, behind only the struggling Oakland Athletics.
Kansas City starters, on the other hand, have pitched fewer innings than any other major league rotation, and have posted the sixth-worst ERA, at 5.08.
The Royals need their bullpen in order, and that starts with Davis in the closer role.
A brief absence is fine, but it will be difficult to tread water for much longer. The Royals’ chances at the division title are slipping, although a strong month could still put them right back in the race. A cold streak for the Cleveland Indians at the right time could close the gap, assuming no other injuries befall Kansas City.
Of course, that outcome hinges on whether the Royals are telling the truth about how long Davis will be out. They claim that Davis is only experiencing muscle tightness, and it’s not the kind of “forearm strain” that is followed by Tommy John surgery. They don’t expect him to miss much time, and Davis intends to stay behind over the All-Star break to work on his rehab.
Even if they do fall out of the division contest, the Royals could still salvage their season through the Wild Card race. In that contest, Kansas City is only two games back. They could easily beat out the teams ahead of them in order to snag a Wild Card spot – or at least stay in the race until the very end.
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This isn’t enough to bury the Kansas City Royals, but it should worry fans just a bit. Cleveland’s hot month of June has bled over into July, and if they don’t cool off soon, the Royals’ injury woes may cost them their chance at the postseason.