Jarrod Dyson to miss six weeks with strained oblique

Yesterday afternoon, Jarrod Dyson was forced to leave a spring training game because of a "strained right oblique." As baseball fans know all to well these days, any oblique injury is a serious matter. Not only does it cause most players to miss significant time, but there's also a serious chance of re-injury. Every now and again, a player will get lucky, and their oblique injury will be mild enough that they can return within one or two weeks, but that is not the case for Dyson.

"Royals outfielder Jarrod Dyson will be sidelined for roughly six weeks because of a strained right oblique. Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star writes that Dyson is likely to open the regular season on the disabled list."

With Dyson out until at least mid-April, Paulo Orlando, who has 251 career plate appearances, is now seemingly the starting right fielder. He posted similar offensive numbers to Dyson, and if the Royals choose not to look for outside help, he can probably hold his own for a couple weeks. The issue is whether or not Dayton Moore wants to count on Dyson coming back on time, or if he wants to prepare for a longer absence. If the latter is the case, then Austin Jackson might be the perfect solution.

He was slightly better than Dyson and Orlando on offense, and his defense was better than average last season. In 527 plate appearances, Jackson posted a slash line of .267/.311/.385 with a wOBA of .305, and a wRC+ of 94. He managed to steal 17 bases, although he was caught 10 times.

If Jackson doesn't intrigue Moore, Marlon Byrd, David DeJesus, and former Royal Alex Rios, are all still free agents. Byrd might be the best option, at least from an offensive standpoint, as he posted an average wRC+ in 2015, and an above average ISO.

This injury won't cripple Kansas City's 2016 season, but they'll likely need to address this situation by adding an outfielder.