Fantasy Pitch F/X

With the slow day today hopefully there won’t be too much new injury news this afternoon.  Let’s catch up on the last couple of days.

Carlos Beltran had an MRI which showed bone bruising at the top of his tibia inside the knee.  He received a cortisone injection into the area and Carlos described the injection as successful.  I’m a little suspicious of how effective it will be long term because the bruising wasn’t a result of an outside force but it the force was produced by his own body.  He underwent bilateral knee surgery to clean up his patellar tendons at the end of 2007, so it’s not unprecedented for his body to be producing detrimental forces across his knee.  Right now, I don’t think this current situation is anything long lasting but it may require a couple days here or there later in the season.

Brett Myers came off the mound yesterday with inflammation in his hip and xrays revealed “jaggedness” according to an Xray.  This isn’t the news that he or the Phillies wanted to hear and likely means he’s facing an extended DL stay if not surgery.  If there are bony changes in his hip that show up on xray the structural change will not go away with rest and rehab.  There will need to be some procedure to clean that up or fix it.  Whether or not it can wait until the end of the season is a question that will likely be answered after an MRI and subsequent evaluation.

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injury analysis, news Brandon Backe, Brett Myers, Brian Bruney, Carlos Beltran, Cliff Floyd, Edinson Volquez, Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Posada, Kelvim Escobar, Melky Cabrera, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Braun, Ryan Freel, Xavier Nady

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

No major injury news since I last wrote but lots of rehab notes.

Chad Cordero doesn’t appear to be coming back anytime soon as word from the Mariners is that his velocity simply isn’t where it needs to be after his labrum surgery…Ryan Rowland-Smith is still a couple of weeks away from returning but he is actually making progress with his triceps tendinitis. He’ll end his extended spring training appearences and move on to a rehab assignment next week…Kevin Youkilis will be activated today…Carlos Zambrano is expected to be activated and start on Friday…Chris Carpenter is expected to be activated and start today, I’d watch his velocity…Joey Votto is still suffering from dizziness and is undergoing tests in an attempt to diagnose the condition…Jose Reyes was back in the lineup yesterday as he deemed his calf was good to go…Daisuke Matsuzaka will be activated and start on Friday.  This will push Masterson to the pen…David Freese underwent surgery to clean out a nagging issue in the ankle… Chien-Ming Wang threw a bullpen at the new Yankee Stadium and rumors are he’ll start on Friday.  He has cleaned out his locker in AAA so it appears that this is likely.

news Brian Anderson, Brian Bruney, Carlos Zambrano, Chad Cordero, Chien-Mien Wang, Chris Carpenter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, David Freese, Elijah Dukes, Joey Votto, Jose Reyes, Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Rowland-Smith

News came out regarding two players after I already submitted the post so here’s the update.   Noah Lowry will miss the rest of the season after he has a rib removed on his left side.  This sounds very similar to the procedure that Jeremy Bonderman had which was to correct Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS).  TOS occurs for a couple different reasons but is when the neurovascular bundle coming from the neck/trunk is compressed and effects the nerves and/or circulation in the arm.  Many times it can be treated non-operatively through postural training and patient education.  There are instances, such as Bonderman’s and now Lowry’s, where they must remove the first rib near the shoulder in order to allow everything to flow normally.  Like Bonderman, it will be a lengthy rehab. Fantasy Impact: Unfortunately not much.  Lowry was not really counted on to do much after his lengthy history of arm injuries.

Eric Chavez has a career threatening herniated disc in his back and has surprised many in the Oakland organization.  The herniated disc must be severe enough so that any improper movement would throw out his back and end his career.  Fantasy Impact: Another player who has had a long list of injuries in his career who wasn’t really expected to do much this year.  He hasn’t been a reliable option in several years but I still wish him the best.

news Eric Chavez, Noah Lowry

Two major injury news were dropped yesterday with Carlos Delgado and Rickie Weeks set to undergo surgery on their hip and wrist respectively.  Weeks will be out for the year with Delgado likely out for 2-3 months at least.   Both situations will help their teams in some respect and hurt them in others.  The injuries help open pathways (or move the pathway in the Mets case) get their young mashers to the show and allow them to in a way learn on the job.  The hitters will have growing pains at times but in the long term this will most likely be the best things for them.

Glen Perkins was placed on the DL with elbow inflammation after his horrible start versus the Yankees.  He reports that he had some tingling in his fingers in his left arm which is a huge red flag to me. Perkins doesn’t seem to be that concerned but I would be.  At the very least the area is around the nerve is irritated and that requires some rest.  Ulnar Neuritis is a possibility but there’s also a chance that there is something much more worse (UCL sprain).   He’ll probably get an MRI to determine the exact issue but this is concerning to me.

news Alex Cora, Carlos Delgado, Dan Giese, Glen Perkins, Matt Daley, Rickie Weeks

Carlos Delgado will undergo surgery on Thursday for the bone spur and impingement in his hip.  He’s going to be sidelined a couple of months at least and possible more.   As I’ve been saying for a while now, they could move Murphy’s glove out of left and to first where he can’t be any worse.

Also going in for surgery is Rickie Weeks, except his is definitely season ending.  He will have a tendon sheath repaired in a procedure similar to the one he had on his right wrist a couple of years back.  He is expected back in time for spring training but the last two fantasy owners holding out hope for him to stay healthy just gave up.  Indications are that Gamel may now start at 3rd consistently with Craig Counsell, Bill Hall, or someone outside the organization to start at 2nd.

news Carlos Delgado, Rickie Weeks, Surgery

Usually Sunday’s are a little slow but yesterday was different.  Pat Burrell was placed on the DL with a neck strain.  He also is suffering from a bulging disc so rehab from the neck strain is made slightly more difficult. Fantasy Impact: Willy Aybar and Ben Zobrist will get more ABs with Zobrist getting the bulk of them in my opinion.  It’s something that Burrell should be back in the minimum (May 25th) so there’s no need to go out and trade for a replacement.

Rickie Weeks isn’t likely to be as lucky.  During an AB yesterday he hurt his left wrist swinging.  The Brewers are sending him down to see a wrist specialist who has operated on him twice before (right wrist and thumb) to see what’s going on.  Most likely we won’t know the exact details until late tonight or tomorrow as they will likely get a MRI.  Fantasy Impact: Craig Counsell will most likely get the bulk of the playing time but there is an outside chance that they try to get Gamel’s bat in the lineup.  If they do, Bill Hall will likely slide over to second base.

Elijah Dukes was only able to make it one inning before his hamstring barked at him a little more and made him leave the game…A sprained thumb is causing Eric Stults to miss his scheduled bullpen session.  The thumb is extremely important in controlling the ball during pitching and getting the spin for breaking pitches.  He’s hoping to pitch on Wednesday but that might be in doubt…Carlos Zambrano gave up 4 runs in his rehab stint but he’s still likely to come off on Friday to start against the Padres…Brian Bruney and Chien-Ming Wang both made rehab appearences in AAA yesterday and both are probably going to be back with the Yankees late this week…Jason Isringhausen was activated today as he recovers from elbow surgery…Jeremy Bonderman will make another rehab start on Wednesday and is slowly becoming ready to return.  His velocity is getting back to normal as he was sitting around 90.  Expect him back in about 1 week or so…Erik Bedard is only expect to miss 1 start as his hamstring is just sore and doesn’t appear to have long lasting damage.  The one concern I have is a cascasde injury as this was how his shoulder flared up last year.

news Brian Bruney, Carlos Zambrano, Chien-Mien Wang, Elijah Dukes, Eric Stults, Erik Bedard, Jeremy Bonderman, Pat Burrell, Rickie Weeks

Will Carroll has written that Delgado is likely headed for surgery.  You can safely get rid of him.

news Carlos Delgado, Surgery