A Hair Off Square   custom cards

I have high hopes for Lorenzo Cain. He obviously came over in the Greinke deal and looks like he may be ready to be a full time big leaguer. The problem is that the Royals signed Melky Cabrera before the Greinke deal went down. This means Cain is not going to be on the Royals roster because of a crowded outfield situation in Kansas City.

The starting outfield appears to be cemented; Gordon-Cabrera-Francoeur. Mitch Maier has played so well this spring that he is certain to be on the roster since he is out of options. That potentially leaves one outfield spot left for Gregor Blanco, Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson. Who will win? Likely Gregor Blanco. I would rather see Cain or Dyson however. Cain should be a part of the future in Kansas City, Dyson is very likely to be part of the future.

So why Blanco? One Word: Options. Blanco is out of them which means if he doesn’t make the team the Royals are almost releasing him.

I think Blanco is a good slot filler for right now. He is a good backup center fielder for a big league club. But why have a backup playing when Cain and Dyson appear to be able to hold down the spot as well? Dyson is so fast that he would be ahuge asset on any big league club. Example: Felix Hernandez is a great pitcher. He can shut an offense down for a day and almost single-handedly win a game. This spring Felix Hernandez pitched against the Royals, he didn’t have his best stuff and the Royals beat him up much more than they will in the next few months.

But I want to focus on Dyson and what he did in that game. Dyson is not great offensively but he went 3-3 against King Felix that day. How? 3 infield singles. Yeah, you read that right, 3 consecutive infield singles. If Felix was on that day, those could have been huge in making progress against a very dominating pitcher. Especially with Dyson’s speed and ability to steal bases. If my memory serves me correctly, I think he stole second on two of those three times on base that day.

The bottom line is that Dyson and Cain have options and Blanco doesn’t. That means Dyson and Cain will only be in Kansas City on April 2nd when the Omaha Storm Chasers take on the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. That is until Cabrera or Blanco get hurt or get traded. I hope the Royals find a way to get Dyson and Cain in Kansas City soon.

Editor’s note: Dyson’s card to the left had already been posted but I talked more about him today than I did on the original post so I found it appropriate to re-post it today.