The Royals have placed 32-year old lefty reliever John Parrish on the 15-day disabled list with a case of rotator cuff inflammation. Parrish has pitched in 9 games (0 starts) for the Royals this season and he is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. The Royals have called up 29-year old righty reliever Victor Marte to replace Parrish in the bullpen. Marte has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball this season and he was 1-0 with 1 save, a 3.48 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. The Royals hope Marte pitches better then he did last season for them in his first taste of the majors. He worked in 8 games (0 starts) for the Royals last season and he was 0-0 with a 8.25 ERA and a 2.08 WHIP. He looked a tad nervouse with the Royals last year as he walked 12 batters in only 12 innings pitched.

Jose Guillen was bitching all winter that he didn’t want to be a DH but it seems as if the role is suiting him just fine so far this year. Guillen has played in 18 games for the Royals so far this season and he is 26 for 74 (.351 avg, 1.088 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 7 homers and 17 RBIs. The DH spot will also give Guillen a better chance of staying healthy in 2010 and if he can play in around 150 games this season for the Royals he will be a huge asset to the team. With DeJesus, Podsednik and Butler batting ahead of him I see Guillen knocking in a ton of runs if he can just stay healthy.

The Royals have claimed 25-year old righty swinging outfielder Jai Miller off waivers from the A’s. Miller has played in 10 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 4 for 34 (.118 avg, .307 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 RBI and 3 stolen bases. Miller whiffed 19 times in AAA this season which is awful! He has played in 754 games in his 8 years in the minors and he is 602 of 2,555 (.236 avg, .706 OPS) with 360 runs scored, 75 homers, 295 RBIs and 102 stolen bases. Miller played in 1 game in his major league career with the Marlins in 2008 and he was 0 for 1 with a whiff. Miller is a great athlete but he’s not much of a baseball player. The Royals shouldn’t be giving this guy at bats in the minors.

27-year old righty swinging 3B/OF Josh Fields has elected to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. This injury is very similar to the one that hurt Alex Gordon last season and you saw how long that took him to recover from. Fields has played in 204 games in his major league career and he is 152 of 664 (.229 avg, .718 OPS) with 90 runs scored, 31 homers, 101 RBIs and 226 whiffs. He was hoping to get his career back on track in K.C. but it’s looking like he will have to wait until next year to do it.

The Royals have called up 28-year old righty Brad Thompson and 33-year old lefty Bruce Chen to replace Juan Cruz and Luis Mendoza in the bullpen. Thompson started 3 games in AAA-ball for the Royals this year and he was 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. Chen has started 3 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 0-1 with a 1.31 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP. He only allowed 13 hits while whiffing 20 batters in 20 2/3 innings in the minors. Thompson & Chen will likely be a improvement over Cruz & Mendoza making the Royals’ pen a little bit better going forward.