David Banks – US Presswire
To an extent it goes without saying that a team, any team, need to stay healthy to have a good season. But some teams have better depth than others and some injury woes will have a larger effect than others and the Kansas City Royals really need to have better luck with injuries in 2013 than they did in 2012.
Last year the Royals lost their everyday catcher, Salvador Perez for three months before the season had even started. Perez would end up picking off five baserunners in half a season behind the plate and put up sterling numbers with the bat as well. All-Star closer Joakim Soria went down in Spring Training as well and missed the entire season before leaving the club over the winter. And two of the Royals best pitchers, Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino had Tommy John surgery in mid-season. Those were just the big ones, there were also a laundry list of minor niggles and overwork that meant there was a revolving door between the major league and triple-A bullpens for the first part of the year.
Part of this, perhaps a lot of this, might be put down to luck. Statistically speaking there will be years where injuries are a bigger problem than others. But the way the injuries were concentrated and the way so many were broadly similar (three Tommy John surgeries, for instance) suggests that there might be something the Royals could be doing better with their fitness and conditioning routines in 2013. Certainly it’s not something they can afford to overlook.
