What a great weekend this is. Pretty good weather in the Northeast, lots of baseball on TV and the radio, and BBQ’s galore. So let’s get on to the injuries.
Vladimir Guerrero hit a double last night in his rehab appearance at Racho Cucamonga, the Single A affiliate for the Angels. He struck out and field out in his other plate appearences, so it’s not like his swing is 100% back yet. There is some speculation that he could rejoin the Angels next week, presumbly solely at DH. Fantasy Impact: Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis will both likely lose playing time as Napoli won’t have the DH role to slot into. Gary Matthews and Juan Rivera will also lose a little playing time.
Kelvim Escobar also was at Rancho Cucamonga and he also did well. Escobar only gave up one hit, 1 walk, and struck out 4 in 4-2/3 innings. He sat around 93 and only gave up 1 unearned run. Fantasy Impact: He’s obviously going to need a couple more starts at least but this is definitely a good start. Once he does return, Palmer is likely the one to be bumped from the rotation through no fault of his own.
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DL, news
Aaron Laffey, Alex Gordon, Anthony Reyes, Carlos Zambrano, Chris Carpenter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Gary Matthews Jr., Jeff Mathis, Jo-Jo Reyes, Kelvim Escobar, Mike Napoli, Nate Robertson, Omar Infante, Scott Kazmir, Troy Percival, Vincente Padilla, Vladimir Guerrero, Xavier Paul
Ludwick was placed on the DL today after all with his hamstring strain. The Cardinals called up Nick Stavinoha to replace the roster spot.
DL
Ryan Ludwick
Carlos Zambrano’s hamstring strain during a bunt will land him on the DL and will probably miss 2-3 weeks. Fantasy Impact: Being placed on the DL will give his arm a little rest which will only help him later in the season. Randy Wells will be called up from AAA for a couple spot starts before Zambrano.
Tom Gordon out for a few weeks for left hamstring strain and he was placed on the DL on Monday as well. Fantasy Impact: The only players more injury prone than Gordon are Chipper Jones and J.D. Drew. Leo Rosales was recalled from the minors and take up more of a mop up role.
In what is becoming slightly more common, Tony Pena Jr. will undergo surgery on his fractured hamate bone in his wrist. Fantasy Impact: Very little. Pena Jr. was relegated to back up duties. He’ll be out 1-2 months.
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DL, injury analysis, news
Brian Moehler, Carlos Zambrano, Chris Carpenter, Damaso Marte, Darren Oliver, Dennis Sarfate, Doug Brocail, Jesse Crain, Tom Gordon, Tony Pena Jr.
Injuries at this time of the year really start to effect your team, especially when it’s to a superstar like Josh Hamilton. After several days of the wait and see, he was finally placed on the 15-day DL with a intercostal strain on Friday. This will give the Rangers a little roster flexibility and it will give Josh a chance to focus on healing and not worrying about trying to get back on the field. Fantasy Impact: The fact that he was put on the DL means that they expect him to be out at least for another week. Trunk strains/sprains cause a disconnect in the transfer of power so he might have a slight decrease in power initially. Expect him back within a few weeks and everything should be back to normal by late May.
Things aren’t going as well for Brian McCann as he deals with his blurry vision. The contacts haven’t worked so they’re going to try and use some prescription glasses similar to Oakleys in a last ditch effort to avoid another LASIK procedure. McCann has said that if surgery is absolutely necessary he’ll try and play through it and have surgery at the end of the season. Fantasy Impact: If that’s the case, I expect his production will suffer because of the continued blurriness. Even then, there’s the risk that he won’t be able to continue and be forced to undergo it mid-season.
Nick Swisher was hit on the elbow by a Jered Weaver pitch and had to leave the game. Coincidence or not, Juan Miranda was taken out of the game for unknown reasons. If it was something that he’d have to go on the DL, the injury was probably a fracture of some kind, although it could also be a severe contusion. Fantasy Impact: Taking away one of the hottest bats for the Yankees, the offense could suffer for the few games until ARod comes back. Matsui, Cabrera, and Miranda will all get some of the ABs when Swisher can’t play.
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DL, injury analysis, news
Brian McCann, David Dellucci, Jose Valverde, Josh Hamilton, Kenji Johjima, Nick Swisher
Josh Hamilton is still battling the sore ribs after crashing into the wall last week. He’s reportedly received an injection (most likely a combination of cortisone and a pain reliever) into the area to hopefully put him over the edge and let him heal quicker. What likely happened is when he bruised the ribs, he also sprained the area called the costochondral joint or in other words where the ribs and cartilage meet. This can be extremely painful and can linger for a little while because there is no way for it to completely rest short of stopping breathing. Fantasy Impact: Marlon Byrd is getting the bulk of the time in center with Andruw Jones getting the starts in left. If Hamilton goes on the DL, expect Byrd to stay in center for the time being.
Mike Rivera was placed on the DL with a sprained ankle. Even though it was not thought to be too serious initially, he reportedly arrived into the clubhouse with a pretty serious limp. The Brewers have one of the best medical staffs in the bigs, so if they deem the extra rest necessary, I will trust them. Fantasy Impact: He’ll likely be out for only the minimum but he didn’t have too much fantasy value anyays. If you need someone immediately, you could always pick up someone else off the wire.
Travis Hafner is on the DL now with right shoulder soreness. This is the same shoulder he had problems with previously and is on his way to visit Dr. Andrews’ team. The front shoulder (the right shoulder in Hafner’s case) is the power shoulder and therefore it helps to explain the extreme drop in power during the last couple of years. Fantasy Impact: Not good for Hafner. VMart and Shoppach will both get more ABs as they rotate through the DH slot. Read more…
DL, injury analysis, news
Andruw Jones, Jeff Baker, Josh Hamilton, Marlon Byrd, Mike Rivera, Travis Hafner
Just when Cole Hamels starts to throw well, he sprained his left ankle while fielding a bunt. The good news is that he was throwing scoreless inning after scoreless inning but he just can’t seem to escape the injury bug this year. The worry is that this will lead to a cascade injury to someone who has a history of arm injuries in the past. Therefore they’ll take their time with him is my guess and make sure that there isn’t that increased chance for a cascade injury. Fantasy Impact: It’s almost starting to get the vibe that it will just be one of those years for him. I figure that he’ll miss at least a start but if he happens to start without missing time, I would hold off. He’ll either suffer from decreased velocity and neither one is a good sign.
UPDATE: Early word is that it won’t cause him to miss a start. I’d still be a little cautious since it’ll cause his velocity to drop some.
Edwin Encarnacion’s lingering wrist soreness is due to a chip fracture in his left wrist and was placed on the DL on Tuesday. Fantasy Impact: The good news is that it was something he was able to play with already. The worry is that the chip may have frayed some ligaments causing the inflammation that leads to the soreness and pain. Adam Rosales will likely get most of the ABs in his absence.
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DL, injury analysis, news
Andres Torres, Christian Guzman, Cole Hamels, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Valverde, Mark Ellis, Melvin Mora, Nomar Garciaparra
I know it’s been several days but hopefully my schedule won’t be nearly as busy now that the semester is winding down. It’s been a great weekend with two of our teams winning our conference, another one finishing 2nd, and the other two teams making the playoffs. A busy weekend indeed. With that being said, my passion still lives with MLB injuries and trying to understand them more and more each day. I can only hope that I can help other people understand them as well.
Hiroki Kuroda received a cortisone injection in his oblique as they try to speed along the slow moving process. It’s been a while now for the hurting oblique and it’s probably going to be a little while longer. Fantasy Impact:The moves have already been made but this clearly means that he’s going to be at least a couple more weeks before he’s back. Assume that he’ll miss at least most of May and then you won’t be disappointed otherwise.
Marlins fans can stop holding their breath now that Hanley Ramirez’s x-rays are normal. Taking a 95 mph fastball off a wrist is something that no hitter wants and luckily Hanley escaped major injury for now. Fantasy Impact: He’s probably going to miss a couple games with a bad contusion but unless you’re the worst player in fantasy history, you’re not going to drop Hanley until you receive notification that he’d undergo surgery and miss the rest of the year. Obviously this is not the case yet, so don’t go looking on the waiver wire for him.
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DL, injury analysis, news
Carlos Delgado, Derrek Lee, Fernando Tatis, Hanley Ramirez, Hiroki Kuroda, Tom Gordon, Willie Harris
Joe Mauer will be going on a rehab assignment and will be set to return to the bigs on May 1st. He’s only expected to play in 6 games in some Single – A Fort Myers games. Fantasy Impact: The light is finally at the end of the tunnel with Mauer’s return and hopefully he’ll start off quickly. Initially I would expect he would have an extra day off or two in his very beginning but I do expect him to slot into the starters role immediately.
Kyle Lohse is set to go for an MRI on his right knee after running to cover first base in the game Thursday night and feeling a pop. He did stay in the game to finish the fifth inning. Fantasy Impact: Feeling a pop is never a good thing for any pitcher but it was good that he was able to stay in the game for a while longer. We should end up knowing what’s up fairly soon because the knee is not nearly as complicated and vague as the shoulder and elbow.
Vladimir Guerrero‘s situation is looking more and more dire as he tries to come back from a torn pectoral muscle. Scioscia was unable to guess as to when he would return which to me makes me believe the injury is even worse than what was originally let on. Fantasy Impact: This is just not good for any Vlad owners. If they are unable to guess as to when he would return, he’s definitely not going to be ready in a month. All of the other OFs and the Napoli will c0ntinue to get the extra ABs and hopefully help them get out of their funks. Read more…
DL, injury analysis, news
B.J. Ryan, Darren Oliver, Franklin Morales, Joe Mauer, Kris Benson, Kyle Lohse, Marcus Thames, Ricky Romero, Vladimir Guerrero, Willie Eyre
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