Last season 29-year old righty swinging 2B/SS Mike Aviles hurt himself pretty good and it hurt his swing. He played in 36 games for the Royals last season and he was 22 of 120 (.183 avg, .458 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 homer and 8 RBIs. Over the winter the Royals traded for Chris Getz with the idea of starting him at 2B. He then got hurt and Aviles was called up and he pretty much took the starting job at 2B away from Getz while he was out of action. Aviles has played in 46 games this season for the Royals and he is 57 of 176 (.324 avg, .753 OPS) with 29 runs scored, 2 homers and 12 RBIs. He has now played in 184 games in his major league career and he is 215 of 715 (.301 avg, .751 OPS) with 107 runs scored, 13 homers, 71 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. I’m thinking that Aviles will be pretty good trade bait for the Royals if he keeps hitting the ball.

The Royals tried to trade 34-year old righty swinging RF/DH Jose Guillen all winter. No team wanted to touch him based on how bad he played in 2009. In 2009, Guillen played in 81 games for the Royals and he was 68 of 281 (.242 avg, .681 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 9 homers and 40 RBIs. This season though Guillen is ripping the ball for the Royals. He has played in 74 games for the Royals this year and he is 78 of 280 (.279 avg, .813 OPS) with 41 runs scored, 13 homers and 45 RBIs. If the Royals fall behind the Twins, Tigers and White Sox more in the near future they will try to move Guillen again.

28-year old lefty swinging Mitch Maier has done a decent job of filling in as the starting CF while Rick Ankiel was down due to injury. But he’s on rehab and he’s almost ready to be activated. Maier has played in 53 games for the Royals this season and he is 44 of 166 (.265 avg, .723 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 2 homers and 24 RBIs. Ankiel has played in 6 games on his rehab assignment in AAA in which he is 8 of 22 (.364 avg, 1.136 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 2 homers and 5 RBIs. He also played in 19 games earlier this year for the Royals in which he was 13 of 62 (.210 avg, .695 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 3 homers and 9 RBIs. Ankiel will get his starting job back because of how much money he’s making and the fact that he has a lot of power which the Royals could sure use.

The Royals have placed 26-year old righty starting pitcher Luke Hochevar on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right elbow. Hochevar has started 13 games for the Royals this year and he is 5-4 with a 4.96 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. The Royals have called up 27-year old righty Anthony Lerew to take over Hochevar’s spot in the starting rotation. Lerew has pitched in 14 games (11 starts) in AAA-ball for the Royals this year and he is 5-3 with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Lerew pitched in 3 games (2 starts) for the Royals last year and he was 0-1 with a 4.05 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP. This is a shame for both Hochevar and the Royals as he was pitching pretty well for them so far this year.

The Royals have released 32-year old lefty reliever John Parrish. Parrish pitched in 9 games (0 starts) for the Royals this year and he was 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He has been having problems with rotator cuff inflammation since the end of April. Look for Parrish to get a shot with another team after he gets healthy but that could be a while down the road and the Royals didn’t want to wait on him.