KC Royals outfielder Paulo Orlando could be forgiven if he felt a little cheated.
After posting the best season of his late-blooming career in 2016, the Brazilian could have expected to go into camp with a real shot at snagging the starting job in right field for the KC Royals.
After hitting .302 in 128 games, thanks in no small part due to the large chunks of time missed by Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain, the 31-year old—who didn’t break into the bigs until age-29, after more than 1,000 career minor league games—looked set to become the third consistent piece patrolling the outfield in Kauffman Stadium, alongside Cain and Gordon.