The defending champion Royals are in Arlington for a series with the Rangers, but their stud closer, Wade Davis, is not with them. He had to return to Kansas City for an MRI on his troublesome right forearm.

On Sunday, the Royals announced Davis has been placed on the 15-day DL with a flexor strain. A flexor injury is not good, but it's a muscle injury, not a ligament injury. Forearm issues are common precursors to Tommy John surgery but that is not the case here.

The impact here goes beyond the Royals, who are on the verge of being a non-contender. Davis' name had started to surface in trade rumors and he would have fetched a huge haul. Players can still be traded while on the DL, but the injury would clearly cut into Davis' trade value.

Davis had an uncharacteristically bad outing earlier this week, when he allowed two hits and three walks, leading to two earned runs. His velocity with the four-seam fastball, the cutter and the curve have all taken noticeable dips this month (Brooks Baseball). Lowered velocity and poor command? Uh oh.

There's even more to consider moving forward. Davis has a $10 million team option for next season. If he kept pitching like he had been without issue, that's an absolute no-brainer to pick up.

In the Royals' situation -- with most of their regulars being free agents after 2017 -- maybe the Royals would just let him walk? They would then be tasked with building their super bullpen around new closer Kelvin Herrera (who is a free agent after 2018, by the way).

Needless to say, the Wade Davis injury has some far-reaching implications.