The Royals have placed 32-year old lefty reliever John Parrish on the 15-day disabled list with a case of rotator cuff inflammation. Parrish has pitched in 9 games (0 starts) for the Royals this season and he is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. The Royals have called up 29-year old righty reliever Victor Marte to replace Parrish in the bullpen. Marte has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball this season and he was 1-0 with 1 save, a 3.48 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. The Royals hope Marte pitches better then he did last season for them in his first taste of the majors. He worked in 8 games (0 starts) for the Royals last season and he was 0-0 with a 8.25 ERA and a 2.08 WHIP. He looked a tad nervouse with the Royals last year as he walked 12 batters in only 12 innings pitched.

Jose Guillen was bitching all winter that he didn’t want to be a DH but it seems as if the role is suiting him just fine so far this year. Guillen has played in 18 games for the Royals so far this season and he is 26 for 74 (.351 avg, 1.088 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 7 homers and 17 RBIs. The DH spot will also give Guillen a better chance of staying healthy in 2010 and if he can play in around 150 games this season for the Royals he will be a huge asset to the team. With DeJesus, Podsednik and Butler batting ahead of him I see Guillen knocking in a ton of runs if he can just stay healthy.

The Royals have claimed 25-year old righty swinging outfielder Jai Miller off waivers from the A’s. Miller has played in 10 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 4 for 34 (.118 avg, .307 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 RBI and 3 stolen bases. Miller whiffed 19 times in AAA this season which is awful! He has played in 754 games in his 8 years in the minors and he is 602 of 2,555 (.236 avg, .706 OPS) with 360 runs scored, 75 homers, 295 RBIs and 102 stolen bases. Miller played in 1 game in his major league career with the Marlins in 2008 and he was 0 for 1 with a whiff. Miller is a great athlete but he’s not much of a baseball player. The Royals shouldn’t be giving this guy at bats in the minors.

27-year old righty swinging 3B/OF Josh Fields has elected to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. This injury is very similar to the one that hurt Alex Gordon last season and you saw how long that took him to recover from. Fields has played in 204 games in his major league career and he is 152 of 664 (.229 avg, .718 OPS) with 90 runs scored, 31 homers, 101 RBIs and 226 whiffs. He was hoping to get his career back on track in K.C. but it’s looking like he will have to wait until next year to do it.

The Royals have called up 28-year old righty Brad Thompson and 33-year old lefty Bruce Chen to replace Juan Cruz and Luis Mendoza in the bullpen. Thompson started 3 games in AAA-ball for the Royals this year and he was 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. Chen has started 3 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 0-1 with a 1.31 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP. He only allowed 13 hits while whiffing 20 batters in 20 2/3 innings in the minors. Thompson & Chen will likely be a improvement over Cruz & Mendoza making the Royals’ pen a little bit better going forward.

The Royals have released 31-year old righty reliever Juan Cruz and they have designated 26-year old righty reliever Luis Mendoza for assignment. Cruz pitched in 5 games (0 starts) for the Royals this season and he was 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA and a 2.24 WHIP. In his two years with the Royals, Cruz pitched in 51 games (0 starts) in which he was 3-4 with 2 saves, a 5.50 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. Cruz was signed to help out late in games out of the pen for the Royals but he has been a complete bust. He will likely find a new team but the Royals won’t miss him as he was terrible for them. Luis Mendoza made Juan Cruz look like Cy Young in his prime. Mendoza pitched in 4 games (0 starts) for the Royals this season and he was 0-1 with a 22.50 ERA and a 3.25 WHIP. He gave up a stunning 10 hits (4 homers) and he walked 3 batters in only 4 innings. All I have to say about these pitchers is good riddance.

28-year old lefty minor league reliever starter Adam Bostick has been suspended for 50 games to start immediately after he violated the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.  Bostick pitched in 39 games (1 start) in AA+AAA-ball last season and he was 3-3 with 3 saves, a 3.05 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP.  In his 8 years in the minors, Bostick has pitched in 176 games (123 starts) in which he is 35-43 with 3 saves, a 4.35 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP.  Bostick has never pitched in the majors and this suspension won’t likely help him get there any time soon.  Don’t be surprised if the Royals release him when his suspension is over.

The 34-year-old Scott Podsednik is off to the best start of his 10-year career, collecting six multi-hit games already and speeding around the basepaths like it’s 2005.  Through 13 games, Podsednik has a .449 BA (22/49), 6 RBIs, 6 Rs, .526 OBP, .469 SLG, and he already has 7 stolen bases.  He is on pace to steal over 80 bases so far.  I’m not saying he will get to that, or even close to that, but it is a great sign that he can still put the pressure on opposing teams with his legs, despite his age.  Podsednik has always been an underrated player in my book, as teams routinely let him slip through their fingers to other ballclubs.  The Royals are his fourth team in 10 years, with the White Sox letting him go even though last season he had a .304 BA, 7 HRs, 48 RBIs, 75 Rs, 30 SBs, .353 OBP, and a .412 SLG for the Sox.  The Royals obviously have to be happy they picked Podsednik up, especially since they got him for only $1.75 million this season.  Hopefully Podsednik can keep the injury bug away and his older legs don’t wear down as the it gets deeper into the season.  Either way, this is an amazing start for Podsednik.

There aren’t too many things that Kansas City Royals’ fans can be proud of the last couple of years, but Joakim Soria is definitely one thing that Royals’ fans can brag about.  Other than Zack Greinke, Soria has been the most dominant and important part of the Royals pitching staff.  The 25-year-old right-hander has been one of the games’ best closer since his rookie season in 2007.  In his short career so far, Soria has 92 saves in 103 opportunities (89%) and has a 2.08 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 218 strikeouts, and only 55 walks in 194.1 innings pitched.  Soria has made 4 appearances so far this season, and in 5.0 innings he has given up only 1 earned run on 3 hits and has 8 strikeouts.  He has a 1.80 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and is 3/4 in save opportunities.  If the Royals could ever build a solid offense and put some more pieces in their pitching staff, they could be a very good team with Greinke as their ace in the starting rotation and Soria their shut-down closer.

The Royals are in 4th place in the A.L. Central with a 5-7 record which has them 3.5 games behind the Twins. The Royals have been outscored 71-63 this season. The Royals need to start getting better pitching because they have been scoring more than enough runs to be winning more games than they have. The Royals travel to Toronto for a 4-game series and then they return home to play three games with the Twins.