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In the last hour, Rustin Dodd has reported that the Royals may have lost two starting pitchers for the season.
First, he reported Strahm is having season-ending knee surgery:
Royals pitcher Matt Strahm will miss the rest of the season after undergoing a surgical procedure Friday to repair a torn patellar tendon in his left knee.
Royals manager Ned Yost said Strahm, 25, is expected to miss close to four months of baseball activities. He should be healthy at the start of spring training in 2018.
He had already been placed on the 60-day DL earlier in the week and Al Albuquerque recalled from Omaha ahead of the Seattle series. At the time this was suspected as he was “seeking a second opinion” but now it’s confirmed.
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Unfortunately, the bad news does not end there as it’s possible that Nathan Karns is headed towards thoracic outlet surgery, which would end his season as well.
On Friday, however, Royals manager Ned Yost revealed that his club may have to compete without another starting pitcher for the rest of the season.
Nathan Karns, on the disabled list since May, could be headed for season-ending surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome, Yost said on Friday.
Karns would be the third on the club to have this issue in the last year.
Thoracic outlet syndrome is a neurogenic condition caused by the compression of nerves near the neck and shoulder. It can cause numbness in the fingers and soreness in the arm. Last season, it felled reliever Luke Hochevar and Royals prospect Kyle Zimmer...
“He’s having trouble with kind of the same thing (Hochevar) went through last year,” Yost said. “We were hopeful that maybe it wouldn’t require thoracic outlet-type surgery, but it’s looking more and more like that’s probably going to be the case.”
The diagnosis is preliminary and he is going to see a specialist soon.
Yost stressed that surgery is not the definitive outcome, but it appears likely. Karns threw a bullpen session on Thursday in Kansas City and experienced more issues. He is set to see a thoracic outlet specialist in the coming days.... If Karns undergoes surgery, he, too, would be out until spring training, Yost said.
He was already on the 60-day DL, as of last month.
Both articles discuss the holes this leaves in the pitching staff and bring up the potential of the Royals to look for rotation and bullpen help at the trade deadline.