What Should the Royals Do?

So the Kyle Davies situation brings about an interesting situation for the Royals and when Ned Yost elected to bring in Tuesday's starter Vin Mazzaro and he imploded it caused an even murkier situation.

It appears that the Royals now need two starters in their big league rotation. So let's look at the possibilities.

Aaron Crow: I don't think I am alone in hoping that the Royals elect to stretch Crow out. If the Royals do this it may take a couple of starts to get Crow's pitch count where it needs to be, but his upside could be the highest among the starter options.

Mike Montgomery: The factors that are preventing Monty from getting immediately promoted are that he got shelled in his last start in Colorado Springs and money. If Montgomery would have dominated in his last start I wouldn't have been shocked at all to see Monty given an opportunity in the big league pen. However, with his struggles with control and his implosion against the Sky Sox, it makes sense that the Royals would leave him in Omaha and make him for their hand.

Danny Duffy: Duffy had perhaps his worst start last time out. But his numbers are still strong enough to warrant a big league promotion. I believe that even if Duffy doesn't live up to the hype he would still represent an upgrade over almost every pitcher in our rotation. A factor working against Duffy though is the service time issue and Super 2.

Jeff Suppan: Suppan could be the option the Royals go with should they chose to pinch pennies. However, there is no reason to believe that he has earned his promotion. He entered tonight with an era around 5 and then proceeded to get shelled.

Nate Adcock: Adcock was viewed as a darkhorse rotation candidate entering the season. Adcock could be granted a few starts as the Royals wait for Monty and/or Duffy to prove themselves and delay their Super 2.

Kevin Pucetas/Luis Mendoza/Blake Johnson: All are on the 40-man roster so the Royals could use them as stop gaps until they believe one of the prospects are ready. If the Royals aren't comfortable with the previous options then it is safe to assume that they would write off Mazzaro's poor performance tonight to circumstance and allow him to continue work until the farm is ready.