The awkward wait for what everyone understood to be inevitable ended Wednesday afternoon when the Royals pushed Omar Infante off the roster.
Infante had essentially been the Royals’ third-string second baseman, without a start in two weeks, and that’s no way to go through a big-league season. He is a proud veteran and wants to play. He is frustrated, had become useless to the team, and he knew it.
The somewhat complicated mechanics of baseball rosters dictated that the Royals not designate Infante for assignment until they had to, because you can’t predict injuries, but this day was coming.