The Kansas City Royals have had a disastrous season. After entering the year with real postseason expectations, those hopes are almost gone and it is not even July yet. The Royals sit 12 games under .500 and look increasingly like sellers at this year’s trade deadline.
A huge reason the team has underperformed has been the starting rotation, which was expected to be a strength entering the year. The Royals had three All-Stars at the top in Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Kris Bubic, yet all three have spent time on the injured list, turning what looked like a legitimate strength into one of the bigger disappointments in the American League.
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As for Bubic, the 28-year-old left-hander has not appeared in a game in over a month. He experienced left elbow soreness and general arm fatigue that forced him to be shut down. However, since then he has resumed baseball activities and thrown bullpen sessions, and it appears he is ready to take the next step.
“LHP Kris Bubic is expected to begin a rehab assignment with Omaha (AAA) tonight,” the Royals wrote on X.
If Bubic returns healthy, it would provide significant reinforcements to the rotation. This year he has posted a 4.11 ERA across nine starts, striking out 51 hitters in 50 1/3 innings. While those numbers do not jump off the page, he is capable of being a much bigger factor, as he showed in 2025 when he broke out with an All-Star selection and posted a 2.55 ERA over 20 starts.
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Bubic has always battled injury concerns, which is part of why he spent the 2024 season in the bullpen. But he is fully a starter now, and that transition has been huge for his development and his value.
It is also significant that Bubic is returning because if he strings together a couple of solid starts and lowers his ERA, he could become a real trade chip for the Royals. He is a free agent at the end of this season, and if Kansas City does not believe they can re-sign him and is not going to contend, they could probably get a couple of prospects in return.
It would be a tough pill to swallow, though. Bubic has meant a lot to this organization, and the Royals are the only team he has ever known, having been selected in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft. However, sometimes the right baseball decision and the sentimental one are not the same thing.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
