Surprise! Surprise! Ka'aihue gets the call

In a move that almost seemed inevitable, the Royals have called up slugging first basemen Ryan Shealy AND Kila Ka'aihue to join the team as September callups. As recently as last night there seemed to be some in the organization who weren't comfortable calling up the one we call Hawaiian Punch. Much of that dealt with where all of these first baseman are going to fit on the team. Billy Butler, Shealy and now Ka'aihue will all merit time at first and there are other guys like Gload and Teahen who have seen time there as well. It should be interesting to see how Hillman will balance the playing time.
Look, calling Ka'aihue and Shealy up is the right move. Shealy started off slow this season after coming off an injury riddled 2007, but he has heated things up the past several months and finished the season with a .280 average and 22 homers. I still believe this guy can be a solid hitter in the bigs - he deserved the call.
By now everyone knows Kila's story. There is no way they could not reward him with a promotion. He killed Texas League pitching, got called up and did more of the same in the PCL. Former top prospect Devon Lowery also will make his big league debut out of the bullpen. Yabuta also will be back with the club.
The team will have to make room on the 40-man roster for Lowery, Yabuta and Ka'aihue. It will be interesting to see who hits the door. Ka'aihue had to be added to the 40-man by November anyways or else the Royals would be forced to expose him to the Rule 5 Draft.
All four players who were promoted are expected to be in uniform in time for Tuesday's game.