Kansas City Royals: Salvador Perez out 4-6 weeks

The Kansas City Royals have lost Salvador Perez for the first four to six weeks of the season with a grade two MCL tear.

This season couldn’t have started any worse for the Royals as Perez tore his MCL in the most Royals way possible. He tore it when he slipped carrying a suitcase up a flight of stairs. In a year the Royals are already expected to take a step back, this turns that step into a possible fall of a cliff.

According to Ned Yost, Perez is expected to miss four to six weeks. That would mean if everything went according to play he wouldn’t be back until the middle of May. However, the catcher position with Perez’s size makes me think this time table is very optimistic. I wouldn’t expect to see him back until June.

So now the Royals will have to play nearly two months without their most valuable player. An offense that is already lacking in consistent success will now be without one of hit’s top three hitters. On defense they will have to learn to play without their four time gold glove quarterback behind the plate. A pitching staff that already made fans nervous will now have to put their trust into an unproven catcher instead of the best catcher in the American League. There is no doubt he is the one player this team could not afford to lose.

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But the game must go on and the team will need to keep it together and try to tread water for the next two months. Drew Butera will step in as the initial replacement for Perez. Butera is a fine backup, but in no way is he an everyday starting catcher. The next man on the depth chart would be Cam Gallagher. Callagher played in 10 games with the Royals last season hitting .250 with one home run in 24 at bats. A 25 year old second round pick from 2011, the Royals would love to have him take advantage of this time.

Opening day of the MLB season is supposed to be the greatest day of the year. A day when anything is still possible and every team is still in the race. This still applies for the Royals, but the Perez injury will put a dark cloud over Kauffamn Stadium that will remain until Perez returns with a big Gatorade cooler to splash it away.