There was one primary reason the Kansas City Royals traded away center fielder Melky Cabrera this offseason: Lorenzo Cain. The Royals needed pitching and took back Jonathan Sanchez in a deal with the San Francisco Giants that has looked more lopsided each day. Not only has Sanchez not worked out, but Cabrera is leading the Major Leagues in hits and just came back to Kauffman as an All-Star for the National League. The only thing making it worse is that KC hasn't had Cain in the line-up after all.
With only six games in 2012 under his belt, Cain is more than ready to come back and become the force atop the line-up that the Royals were hoping he'd become.
"It's nice to have Cain's bat back in the lineup and his ability to cover center field," manager Ned Yost said. "We felt coming into the beginning of the season that Lorenzo Cain was ready to be an everyday center fielder, and the injuries have kind of put a hold on that. He's back healthy, and we're anxious to see what he can do."
Cain has been out with a number of injuries, the sort of frustrating stream of troubles that seem unexplainable. Cain admitted it's been hard to deal with, but now his time has come.
"It's been rough, but I've been staying positive as much as possible. I feel like I'm ready to go. Hopefully I'm in the lineup [Friday] and get this thing started," Cain said. "I'll do the best I can. Anything I can do to help us win ballgames in the second half and really get this thing jumpstarted and off on the right track is going to be big for us."