Lorenzo Cain suffered a setback with his left groin injury Tuesday while playing a rehab game with Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
"He had another strain," said Royals general manager Dayton Moore. "We’re still waiting on the final diagnosis. It’s around the same area, but I’m not sure it’s the same thing." Cain was originally expected to return from the disabled list Friday, but his timetable will be pushed back at least a few more days. Jason Bourgeois and Mitch Maier will continue to share playing time in center field while he's sidelined.

I had some hopes for Bourgeios, but he has been pretty bad so far. I still don't mind Maier as a fill in player. He's not going to kill you, and sometimes, like last night, he has a pretty good game. He also plays very solid defense.

In all reality.........Cain had this injury before he even reported for voluntary workouts before Spring Training actually began. He was limping noticeably.

Then.........for some reason.............it seemed to improve and by the time the first week of Spring Training was in the books he seemed to be fine. Then.....at the very end of Spring Training before I left I mentioned that he appeared to be a little tender.........I just didn't think much of it.

Then...............the injury crops up again. And now this.

Groin injuries take a very long time to heal sometimes. Obviously this one is going to.

If this is a serious tweek...........I wouldn't be surprised to see them shut him down for a couple of months.

Not good..........and especially not good for a guy like Cain that relies on his speed and range in the outfield.

I swear, the Royals couldn't buy luck if it was on sale for a whole year...

They spent all their "luck" money last season when they had virtually no injury problems. It all evens out eventually, I guess.

LOL, yeah that's it...

Their is a lot of truth in what you are saying.

I would also suggest that I don't think that the Royals are necessarily unlucky on the number of injuries that they have right now. I'm not sure that we have that many more than anyone else does.

Our problem is that our injuries are to players that are extremely important to our baseball team. Perez, and Cain and earlier to Giavotella..........especially as position players. That is 3/4ths of our "up the middle defense". Add in a season ending injury to one of the game's top closers. And a "supposed" injury to one of the scheduled starters. And these injuries are magnified to our team. Why? We don't have adequate replacements anywhere in the system.

The catchers have done OK. Defensively they are nowhere near Perez. Offensively......they haven't hurt us much. But never underestimate the loss of a catcher like Perez and what the effect of losing him means to our baseball team. Even as a young kid.............he was one of our rocks. And losing players like that takes its toll on a team mentality.

Bottom line. It is more who has gotten hurt than it is how many. We are unlucky as to WHO has been involved.

Last year was a nice break, but hasn't there been several years worth of doubt cast at the Royals training staff?

Maybe I'm remembering through merde colored glasses, but it seems like I recall it.

This brings up an interesting point I've been going to mention for weeks and haven't gotten around to it.
When the Royals acquired Quintero - one of the radio shows had a guest analyst on that ranks every player defensively at every position before each season. He had Quintero ranked as the 4th best ML catcher coming into the season. I knew he had a good defensive reputation - but that really surprised me.

Having both Perez and Pina go on the DL together for an extended period of time was definitely bad luck. The other injuries are pretty much the type of thing every team has to deal with every year. As you say, the difference here is that there is not much depth, especially in the OF and C positions.

The training staff changed before last year IIRC.

"This brings up an interesting point I've been going to mention for weeks and haven't gotten around to it.
When the Royals acquired Quintero - one of the radio shows had a guest analyst on that ranks every player defensively at every position before each season. He had Quintero ranked as the 4th best ML catcher coming into the season. I knew he had a good defensive reputation - but that really surprised me."

From what I have seen of him defensively..............he is vastly overrated. He hasn't looked like the 4th best defensive catcher in baseball to me. In fact.........to me he has looked below average.

I know in Surprise they were saying he was supposed to be really good. I didn't see it down there either.

I'll tell you who is good defensively at catcher is that Julio Rodriguez kid that we got from Detroit. He can't hit a lick. But he is very good defensively. He's a long ways away though. And I doubt his bat ever allows him to make it to the Major Leagues. He is 21 or 22 years old and quite polished defensively for a kid his age.

I don't even know where he got assigned. They were talking A ball. But then after the Pina and Perez injuries some were saying AA. I am too lazy to try to find out where he is. But he will impress you defensively. He's not as good as Perez. But he is pretty darn close. I was really impressed with his glove in Spring Training.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4387684

Just called up to AA looks like

Looks like he's played 4 games for NW Ark now - and it appears that's his first action of the season.

That article says April 19th, last Thursday.

I considered a few days ago recent, compared to starting the season there lol

why am i not surprised. when it rains it pours.

i thought that i dreamt a few nights ago that he reinjured his groin.

don't ask me why i'm dreaming about lorenzo cain's groins. i wasn't, it was just 1 of the small details .........

Do you think its just coincidence that the last game we won is also the last game Cain got the start in CF?

Thanks guys. I thought he was going to wind up in AA pretty quickly if not to open the season.

I am anxious to hear a report from arknatfan or royalshog about him. His defense that is.

I thought he looked very good and very polished back there for a 21 or 22 year old kid.

I just know that the rap on him down there in Surprise was that he can not hit. And for such a powerfully built guy............he was more of a slap hitter.

I didn't see him hit that often in camp.............but I watched him a lot catching. He was there everyday in the bullpen drills and side sessions. I know he has good defensive tools.

I just don't know if he can ever make it with his bat.

now they are saying it's a hip flexor:

The Royals have opted to end Lorenzo Cain's rehab assignment with Double-A Northwest Arkansas after he suffered a setback in his recovery from a left groin strain.
The new injury is currently being characterized as a strained left hip flexor, but we should know more after he is examined Thursday in Kansas City. The Royals originally hoped to have Cain back on Friday, but we'll likely have to wait a couple more weeks. Jason Bourgeois and Mitch Maier will continue to benefit in the short-term.