One game in and Jorge Soler is already sitting

After a disastrous Opening Day and a Friday off-day, the Royals are ready to get back at it against the White Sox tonight with Ian Kennedy facing off against Lucas Giolito. Already the lineup has been posted, and Ned has tinkered with the outfield alignment.

Ned Yost has decided to sit Jorge Soler after one game, in favor of getting Paulo Orlando in the lineup. Orlando plays center, with Alex Gordon moving back to left field and Jon Jay in right.

Soler went 0-for-3 with a walk in the season opener, and seemed to play adequately in right field. Ned Yost said he’d like to get Soler 500 at-bats this year, and at age 26, the Royals really need to see what he can do. So why is he sitting after one game?

You might think that perhaps Soler is already hurt. He has a long injury history, including missing the beginning of last season with an oblique injury. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here, as Ned Yost explains he doesn’t want Orlando to get rusty.

There was an off-day on Friday, Soler will sit today, and tomorrow is looking like a potential postponement with snow in the forecast, so it may instead be Soler getting a bit of time off. And why does it matter if Orlando sits for ten days? That really should be his job at this point. Paulo is a nice fourth outfielder, but he is clearly a fourth outfielder. He is 32 year old, not a part of the future. Jorge Soler might be. Paulo Orlando could sit for a whole month, and that would be just fine with me. After all, Erik Kratz did!

We shouldn’t freak out after the second lineup of the season, but this “rebuild” seems to keep taking detours into “let’s play 30+ year olds to win games”-land. Jorge Soler needs at-bats while he’s healthy, because you don’t know how long that will last!

Game time is 6:15 tonight on Fox Sports Kansas City.