Unpacking The Alex Gordon Injury

It’s a semi-good morning in the Royals Universe. The team dodged raindrops and crushed the struggling Minnesota Twins 10-4 on Monday night. That’s good. Then there’s the little fact they had to put Alex Gordon on the disabled list with a fracture of scaphoid bone. He’s expected to miss between three to four weeks. That’s bad.

Gordon has most definitely gotten off to a slow start. He’s slashing .211/.319/.331 with a 238 TAv in 42 games. He owns a -0.1 WARP. Ugly. I won’t compare them to his career numbers. Because they’re scary. And no one deserves to be frightened so early in the day.

I was a bit taken aback by the reaction to Gordon missing such an extended amount of time. As noted, Gordon has been struggling. Yet, put me in the camp that firmly believes for this team to make any waves this year, they need a healthy – and contributing – Gordon. You may think he’s an eighth place hitter, but the reality is he’s a key player on this team. To think he can take this time to “get right” is absurd. He’s out with a wrist injury that could take a month to heal.

After that, he’ll have to find his timing (which he has struggled with anyway) and he will also have to rehab enough to get the wrist action back that is so key to bringing the bat through the zone. Plus, this is the second time he’s injured this wrist. That probably matters a bit in the recovery process. So while Gordon wasn’t necessarily showing signs of breaking out of his extended slump, we’re pretty much guaranteed he’s either out or ineffective until around the All-Star Break. I’ll do the math in my head…that’s half a season without a contributing Gordon. That’s rough.

Some may compare his injury this year to him missing time in 2015 with the groin strain. There’s a huge difference here in both the timing of the injury (the groin strain grounded him in early July), and the position the Royals were in at the time. When Gordon went down, the Royals were cruising to the division title. They had a functioning lineup capable of covering for a missing piece. As we know, this year’s edition is going to have to grind it out if they harbor hopes of reaching the postseason. And the functioning lineup part? I’d feel a little better if Kendrys Morales wasn’t hitting worse than Gordon.

The platoon in right seems to be working well enough that some may think it’s as simple as playing both Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando full-time as coverage. Going back to May 14, Orlando is .577/.571/.885 in 28 plate appearances while Dyson is .375/.375/.563 in 17 plate appearances. That’s some quality production for sure, but it’s simply coincidence they got hot at the same time. I’d like these guys to stick to the platoon since that’s likely the best long term way to get the most out of their skills.

The plan at the moment is to continue using Orlando and Dyson while mixing in Whit Merrifield in the corner outfield spots. When the Royals disabled Gordon, they recalled Cheslor Cuthbert from Triple-A. Cuthbert is back as insurance for Mike Moustakas, with whom Gordon had the initial collision on Sunday. Moose is suffering from a bruised left knee. I maintain he’s lucky that’s his injury given he collided with Gordon. Lesser men would’ve been ground into dust. Cuthbert arrived at the game on Monday in the second inning, too late to make the start so the Swiss Army Knife Merrifield played third.

The Royals now have plenty of moving parts in their lineup. If there’s anything Ned Yost hates, it’s moving parts. It will be interesting to see how the manager mixes and matches and rotates his squad. Especially if Moustakas needs some rest here or there for a sore knee. This makes Merrifield a valuable piece. He can play second, third, or corner outfield. The way the roster is currently constructed, he’s pretty much guaranteed five games a week. Anything to prove he can outplay Omar Infante, although that’s not necessarily a tall order these days.

An interesting name that has come up in post-Gordon conversations is Omaha right fielder Brett Eibner. Through his first 40 games in Triple-A this year, he’s hitting .301/.403/.527 with 10 home runs. At 27, I guess he’s officially too old to have the prospect tag hanging around his neck, but if there’s a guy in the organization who deserves a shot, it would be Eibner. If Moustakas is good to go after a few days, they could ship Cuthbert back down, move their Orlando/Dyson platoon to left and play Eibner for a month in right. If Eibner is ever going to get a serious look from the organization, now would be the time.

Last year, the Gordon injury was the only serious blip on the way to the World Championship. This year, less than two full months into the season and the Royals have already lost two key contributors at different times. Kind of makes you realize how special 2015 was.