Alex Gordon to miss 3-4 weeks with broken bone in hand

The Kansas City Royals appear to have lost outfielder Alex Gordon for three-to-four weeks due to a broken scaphoid bone in Gordon's right hand. The injury was suffered during a collision with third baseman Mike Moustakas in Sunday's loss to the White Sox.

The 32-year-old Royals lifer likely broke the bone while bracing his fall. Fortunately, Gordon avoided any serious head injuries, as he passed the concussion protocol.

Gordon's 2016 performance has been quite underwhelming after re-upping with the Royals for a franchise-record four years and $72 million over the offseason. Through 166 plate appearances, he has hit .211/.319/.331 for a sub-par 83 wRC+. An uncharacteristically meager defensive showing this season has deflated his 0.3 WAR; significantly lower than his typical stellar standards over the past half-decade or so.

Nonetheless, his injury is certainly a hinderance to the Royals' outlook over the next month. The reigning World Series champions have stumbled through a rough couple months to start the year. They current sit in third place in the AL Central with a 22-21 record.

Losing Gordon will force the club to split up the right field platoon of Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando; with Whit Merrifield being the only other player currently rostered by the Royals who can fill in around Lorenzo Cain in the outfield. Kansas City could look to make an external addition, however, the organization has a number of viable options at Triple-A, including Travis Snider, Reymond Fuentes, Brett Eibner, and Jorge Bonifacio.

The Royals recalled third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert to take Gordon's place on the 25-man roster. The move is likely in response to Moustakas being listed as day-to-day with a knee contusion as a result of the collision with Gordon. Cuthbert, who has a 72 wRC+ in 52 big-league plate appearances this year, was sent down over the weekend following Moustakas' activation from the disabled list.