In somewhat of a scheduling quirk, the Royals are enjoying their third off-day in an eight-day span on Friday in Chicago after losing to the White Sox on Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field. When the Royals return to Kansas City on Monday, they’ll begin a 10-game homestand, starting a stretch of 26 games in 28 days through early May.

So, a week into the season, it’s a good time to get to some of your Royals questions. Let’s dive in.

Do you think Matheny will give roles to his bullpen sometime soon? Or will he keep using the Force, so to speak, on who pitches?
-- @KCJedi, via Twitter

Manager Mike Matheny has been asked about this a lot lately, because we’ve seen a few relievers handle high-leverage situations. Jesse Hahn, Greg Holland and Wade Davis have all taken the mound in late innings in close games. Thursday night was an important step for Josh Staumont, too, despite the Royals being down six runs. The right-hander dealt with COVID-19 early in Spring Training and is still working to get his strength back up. Staumont threw 1 2/3 hitless innings, with one walk and one strikeout.

The bullpen roles are going to evolve over the season. Matheny has said multiple times this year that he’d love to have a setup like the Royals did in 2014-15, with a seventh-, eighth- and ninth-inning reliever always knowing when he was going to take the ball and being lights out. But that must happen “organically,” Matheny said -- like last year, with Trevor Rosenthal taking the ninth inning -- and for now, the Royals are choosing relievers based on availability and matchups in the opposing lineup, even if the highest-leverage spot isn’t in the seventh, eighth or ninth.

“For the most part, there are certain guys we trust in certain leverage spots, and that leverage spot can truly be in the sixth,” Matheny said. “We’re coming up against the middle part of their lineup and we’re up against the wall. We believe we have their starter on the ropes, and their bullpen might be really strong, and this is our shot. We have to shut these guys down. We’re trying to take all of these things into consideration and put guys in those spots to where they can be most successful. …

“I do know that if we get to that point to have three guys who are lights out against lefties and righties and can go, ‘You and you and you and stand back and watch and clap and give high-fives,’ we’d love that. But I think it’s going to take a little while, if and when we find that.”

Will it be difficult for the Royals to send Lopez down when Mondesi gets healthy?
-- @mattwolters, via Twitter

This is a good question, and one the Royals will have to address, given that shortstop Nicky Lopez -- after he was slated to start the season in the Minors to work on his swing -- is 7-for-19 (.368) to start the season and has really impressed with his offense and defense so far. But shortstop Adalberto Mondesi, who landed on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain a day before the season began, won’t return for a couple weeks.

Initially, you might think the Royals could just move Lopez to second base and Whit Merrifield to right field, like they were counting on starting the season before Lopez struggled in Spring Training. But then what do you do with Kyle Isbel, who has done all the right things in his debut in right field?

A lot can happen between now and when Mondesi is ready to return to action, so it’s probably not worth thinking that far ahead. But having a lot of players you can count on to produce is nothing but a good problem to have for the Royals. They’re a team that relies heavily on their versatility, and you could see a lot of moving parts if the Royals want to keep Lopez and Isbel with them.

When does Benintendi’s production become a concern?
-- Robert, Kansas City

Andrew Benintendi was one of the few who were able to get on base against White Sox starter Lance Lynn on Thursday, so that is a positive sign. He’s hitting .200 (5-for-25) with eight strikeouts compared to just two walks through six games. After Thursday night, per FanGraphs, his zone contact percentage is 70.3 percent. His career high is 89.4 percent (2017) and career low, before this year so far, is 82.6 percent. And according to Statcast, he’s getting a ton of fastballs (72.4 percent) and has whiffed on 35 percent of them -- in ‘17, he whiffed on just 15.1 percent of fastballs.

Benintendi has worked on returning to the bat path that got him to the Majors and gave him so much success with the Red Sox in 2018. He got away from it in ’19 and ’20 because he wanted to hit more home runs. So now he has to undo the past two years of muscle memory and get back to what made him shine. It’s a hard thing to do, and it’s not going to happen overnight.

The early start is worrisome, sure, but six games into the season shouldn’t be a time to hit the panic button.

“We’re looking for quality at-bats, quality swings and passes,” Matheny said earlier this week. “I know he’s frustrated with the swing and miss, but part of that is just getting that bat path in the right direction on a consistent basis. It’s really trending in a really good direction.”

What's the deal with Ervin Santana?
-- @Keckcie, via Twitter

Ervin Santana is on the taxi squad for this current road trip, but if the Royals needed him, they’d have to add him to the 40-man roster, which is full right now. Given that Santana was on a Minor League contract and a non-roster invite this spring, the Royals have likely given him incentive to stay. He could find himself starting or relieving if the Royals need depth coming up on this long strength of games.