Series preview: Indians at Royals (June 10-June 11)

This visit with the Kansas City Royals will be a short two gamer. The Tribe beat the Royals three out of four in late April at Progressive Field.

• Tuesday's game is at 8:10 PM (Kluber vs. Vargas)
• Wednesday's game is at 2:10 PM (Bauer vs. Ventura)

The Indians finish the three city trip with a visit to Fenway for four games with the Red Sox. They then return home for four with the Angels and three with the Tigers.

Division Watch: Tigers at White Sox, Twins at Blue Jays.

Team in a Box

The Royals just finished a rough twelve game stretch of their own, splitting a four game set in Toronto, taking three of four from the Cardinals in the interleague home and home rival games, and taking two of three from the Yankees before the final game was rained out yesterday.

The story in Kansas City isn't much different than in most of the past few seasons. They are pitching fairly decently as the rotation is above average and the bullpen is very, very good. But the lineup is killing them once again. They do lead the league in stolen bases, but pretty much stink elsewhere. As a team they have just 28 home runs, which is just seven ahead of Nelson Cruz. At this rate, they would finish the season with 72. Ouch. They are dead last in OPS at 661.

Projected Roster

When only four of the regulars have an OPS over 700 that leaves a ton of disappointment at the dish. Especially when one of those four is Escobar, who has a career 643 OPS. Moustakas was sent down to AAA in late May for a short spell, but it hasn't seemed to help as he is hitting 148/179/222 since his return. Gordon and Cain look to be the only two real threats.

At some point Dyson might have to play over Aoki. But he looks to be the only credible bench player as Hayes and Ciriaco have both hit even worse, albeit in limited playing time. Unless there are some top prospects ready in Omaha (which I could not confirm), the Royals are doomed to play who is on the 25 man roster. The only change from our April meeting is that Justin Maxwell was DFA'ed once Cain and Dyson got healthy. He is in Omaha right now.

Projected Staff

As this is only two games, the Indians do not get lucky and miss both lefties. The Tribe opens with Vargas, who is doing what Vargas usually does, decent WHIP and mediocre K/9. In his last five starts, he has a 3.69 ERA and 258/328/419 slash, and that includes a 7 run thrashing by Detroit. He pitched decent against us last year as an Angel. Then the Tribe gets the hard throwing Ventura. In his last five starts, he has been fairly mediocre, 1-4, a 5.27 ERA and a 304/358/491 slash line. He did not throw in the April series and had one good start in 2013 against Cleveland, 5.1 innings and just one earned run.

The back end of the bullpen is fairly nasty. Holland is a shutdown closer, going 18 of 19 in save opportunities. Davis has acclimated to his bullpen role very nicely. Two changes have occurred to the back end of the pen since our meeting in April. Louis Coleman was optioned in favor of Wilking Rodriguez last week. And Justin Marks was DFA'ed to get Rodriguez on the roster. Marks was claimed and then traded to the A's for cash. In order to add a third lefty to the pen, Rodriguez was just sent down and Donnie Joseph was recalled. Blake Wood was also picked up by the Royals after the Tribe DFA'ed him and he is in Omaha.

On the Shelf

• SP Bruce Chen [15 day DL], on AAA rehab
• IF Danny Valencia [15 day DL], no timetable for return
• RP Luke Hochevar [60 day DL], out for season

Almanac

*Does not include 2014 stats