Rios, Herrera on the mend from chickenpox

KANSAS CITY -- Royals right fielder Alex Rios and right-hander Kelvin Herrera, both of whom contracted chickenpox when the team played the Rays last weekend, are improving, manager Ned Yost said on Thursday.

"Both are getting better," Yost said. "[Trainer] Nick [Kenney] went to see Herrera yesterday and Rios today. We might try to get them in here tomorrow about 11 [a.m. CT] and then get them out. Just have them do their baseball activities here."

There is no timetable set for the full return of Herrera and Rios to the club, but Yost said he doesn't think it will be weeks away. There wasn't an excessive presence of the chickenpox lesions on either player.

"Neither one of them got horribly sick, nothing with high fevers or anything," Yost said. "They didn't get overwhelmed with [lesions]."

The lesions have to be crusted over and dried up before the players return full-time to the team.