3:30pm: The Royals will deploy a bullpen game on Tuesday, per Rogers.
2:10pm: The Royals announced that left-hander Kris Bubic has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to left elbow soreness. Right-hander Eli Morgan has been recalled in a corresponding active roster move.
Bubic started on Thursday against the White Sox, allowing five earned runs in four innings. That wasn’t his best start in terms of results but his velocity was roughy in line with his season-long numbers and it didn’t appear as though anything was amiss. Until this IL announcement, he was listed as the club’s probable pitcher for Tuesday’s game. Per Anne Rogers of MLB.com, the lefty experienced more soreness than normal after that outing. The club decided to be cautious and put him on the IL while he undergoes testing, hopefully for a short stint.
Ideally, it will be a brief trip to the IL, but the timing is less than ideal for the Royals. They also put Cole Ragans on the IL due to an elbow injury earlier this month, which led to Stephen Kolek getting called up. In addition to losing two lefties from the big league rotation, their depth has taken a hit. Both Ryan Bergert and Ben Kudrna underwent elbow surgeries last month and are likely done for the year.
As of now, the Royals have Seth Lugo, Noah Cameron, Michael Wacha and Kolek in four spots. Lugo is taking the ball against the Red Sox tonight. As mentioned, Bubic was supposed to be the starter for Tuesday’s game, so they will need some other plan for that. The Royals are off on Thursday and again on the following Thursday, so they’ll have some time to come up a longer term plan, but the short term may be a bit tricky.
Luinder Avila and Bailey Falter have each been pitching in multi-inning relief stints of late, so perhaps those two could combine forces as part of some kind of bullpen game. Mason Black and Mitch Spence are on optional assignment but Black has been pitching in relief in the minors. Spence has been starting but went six innings on Friday, meaning he wouldn’t be on normal rest by tomorrow. Aaron Sanchez is around as non-roster depth but he has a 7.13 earned run average in Triple-A this year and just started on Saturday. Ryan Ramsey hasn’t pitched since Tuesday but has a 6.23 ERA in Triple-A this year.
It’s also notable for Bubic, who is an impending free agent. He has posted some good numbers in his career but his health track record might be concerning to clubs. Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2023 and 2024 seasons. He was back on the mound for much of 2025 but didn’t pitch after the month of July due to a rotator cuff strain. Now a new elbow injury has put him back on the shelf.
Around those injuries, Bubic has only thrown 213 innings since the end of the 2022 season. As he heads into the open market, he would ideally put some of those injury concerns behind him. He could still do that if this is indeed a brief absence, but for now, it’s another bump in the road and a situation to monitor.
Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images
