Redman Undergoes Surgery

The Royals wasted no time in putting Mark Redman under the knife. He had arthroscopic knee surgery yesterday and we don't know when he'll be back. With all of the off days early in the season, we aren't expecting to go to a five man rotation until mid-April, so he has about five weeks to rehab the knee. But even if he does, he will have missed all of spring training and we really can't expect him to be sharp without any work.

With Greinke gone indefinitely, this rotation is already looking shaky. Elarton, Mays, and Hernandez are probably locks at this point while Affeldt, Bautista, Wood, Howell, and possibly Gobble battle for the other two positions. Elarton got shelled in his first outing of the spring. Mays is a huge question mark. Hernandez came into camp out of shape. Affeldt is injury prone. Bautista missed most of last season with an injury. Wood seems best suited for middle relief. Howell looked horrible last season at the big league level. And Gobble hasn't shown the ability to get guys out at this level consistently either. Surely, one or two of these guys will step up and have a decent season, but right now, I see more question marks than I see answers.