Kansas City Royals: Replacing Yordano Ventura

I wish it didn’t have to come to this point but Yordano Ventura needs to take a break for a while. Last evenings brawl went too far. The Kansas City Royals must find someone to fill in as a starter while Ventura works on his issues. Who might be the guy?

The Kansas City Royals don’t have many options for starting pitching. The Royals have long relief guys they could toss into the starting rotation just to get by, or they could make a trade.

There are problems with both situations. Throwing a reliever into a starting role could go horribly wrong. For example, the Chris Young experiment. Trading for a pitcher eats up money and talent from the farm system that’s already weak.

The Kansas City Royals do have a few guys who could make the switch from the bullpen to a starter. Maybe former starter, Chien-Ming Wang could fill in for a few weeks. Kris Medlen could fill in if he’s healthy. The Royals could call up Brain Flynn. Mike Minor could be available as well. All these options aren’t great, but they might do for a short while.

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Chien-Ming Wang replaced Ventura Tuesday evening. He didn’t fair well in small Camden Yards against home run type batters. The 36-year-old allowed three earned runs off three home runs in 1 1/3 innings pitched.

Currently, he’s got a 3.09 earned run average (ERA) through 23 1/3 innings. His walks hits/innings pitched (WHIP) is 1.457. He’s accumulated 6.2 strikeouts per nine innings with a strikeout to walk ratio of 1.78.

If Kris Medlen is healthy soon, he might find his way back to the rotation. Medlen has been terrible this season, so a drastic chance is not expected. Through 24 1/3 innings, he’s got a gigantic ERA of 7.77. He has a WHIP of 2.055 and a strikeout to walk ratio of 0.9. The Royals should only use Medlen if it’s an emergency and maybe not even then.

Brain Flynn is a decent starting option. Through 20 1/3 innings pitched for Omaha, Flynn has a 3.54 ERA 10.2 strikeouts per nine and a 2.3 strikeout to walk ratio. Solid numbers for the 26-year-old lefty. The Royals probably wouldn’t mind another left-handed starter to give the team more versatility.

Another lefty the Royals could use as a starter is Mike Minor. Minor is rehabbing at Omaha and should be ready in a few weeks borrowing another setback. He’s pitched 22 1/3 innings in the minor leagues this season.

The numbers are a bit off since he’s working through an injury. He’s got a high ERA of 7.25. He’s given up four home runs and 11 walks while striking out 26.

He still needs work in the minor leagues but Minor could be an option for the Royals starting rotation soon.

The Royals could look outside the team for a huge upgrade. Kansas City could make a trade for a starting pitcher. Julio Teheran of the Atlanta Braves is the most interesting name out there. He’s only 25-years-old and has great numbers for the Braves.

He’s got a sub three ERA at 2.92 with a WHIP of 1.054. His strikeout to walk ratio is 3.14 through 74 innings this season. The last couple of seasons, Teheran pitched more than 200 innings each year. The Royals could use another innings eater to help out the bullpen.

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That’s a lot of guys the Royals should take a look at. If the Royals are serious about making it to the playoffs for a third straight season, they need to make a huge move. Trading for Teheran is that move. If the Royals trade for him Kansas City should be feared in the American League once again.

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