Ned Yost shuffles Kansas City Royals’ rotation, Jason Vargas to start Friday
By Ed Carroll
It’s probably not a panic move, but Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost has bumped starting pitcher Jason Vargas up to start Friday’s game, and as a result, scheduled starter Jeremy Gutherie will now pitch on Sunday. The second-place Royals host the division-leading Detroit Tigers this weekend at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and the Royals enter today a game-and-a-half behind the Tigers. James Shields will start on normal rest for Saturday’s game.
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On paper, this appears to be a move to give Gutherie more rest, and that’s the reason Yost gave as well (well, if you can count “just wanting him to” as an actual reason).
But looking deeper, it’s clear Yost does not want to mess with Shields’s pitching schedule, which is understandable as the team’s top pitcher, and leaves Shields in line for a potential Game 163 (if necessary to determine the division winner) or the actual Wild Card game (also if necessary).
It might be a minor switch, and might end up moot later, but it’s worth noting this also lines up two left-handers to start in Cleveland against the Cleveland Indians, one at the beginning of the series on September 22 (scheduled to be Danny Duffy’s first start back from shoulder soreness) and Vargas on the last game of the series, September 24.
The Indians have struggled against left-handed pitching this season, hitting only 30 home runs against lefties as a team, compared to 106 against right-handers, so there might be some stratergery going on in Yost’s head after all.
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