The last couple of days have been insanely busy between work and two fantasy drafts on Sunday so there has been a little delay. The good news is that I will have more injury analysis here in the future and I will also be focusing more on the pitch fx. I’ll also be writing more at RotoSavants which I hope you will read.
I’m always willing to take suggestions of topics to write about as well.
I just found out from the San Francisco Chronicle and Rotoworld that he’ll undergoing surgery on his elbow. There are no specifics quite yet other than it’ll be arthroscopic and keeping him out a minimum of 6 weeks from now. Two of my previous posts here, here, and another post at Fighting Chance Fantasy, I’ve cautioned against using Duchscherer for this very reason. I felt that the chances of him ending up under the knife were increasing with each piece of information that was given to us.
Like I said, he’s going to be out a minimum of 6 weeks and I wouldn’t be surprised based on his intensity of symptoms if he’s out for a half or season or more. If you already drafted him, I say drop him right away. If you haven’t drafted him, be happy your league (like mine) decided to draft late this year.
My draft is coming up this weekend and for my fellow league mates who read this, they know by know what I’m about to say is gospel.
Drafting fantasy baseball players is like choosing stocks; it’s all about psychology with basis on a few certain numbers. People draft on emotions, feelings, prayers, and beliefs about numbers.
Your draft, whether it be auction or straight draft, will have people drafting off of numbers they believe in, even with the magazine crowd. Like stocks, past performance doesn’t equal future gains. If you use this to your advantage, you can achieve great value.
Ervin Santana is hoping to avoid Tommy John surgery this year but at the very least he’s going to miss all of April or a little less than 20% of the season. Rehab on this has to be slow and meticulous to not aggrevate the ligament. What he has to do is increase his strength around his elbow while hoping enough scar tissue is laid down over the ligament to strengthen it. The ligament itself never heals itself to the point where it was before and therefore is basically a ticking time bomb. I put his chances of making it through the season planned as about 30%, clearly not good enough to waste a good pick on him.
I still think you should avoid Ervin altogether during the drafts. It’s not worth a draft pick when you don’t know what he’ll look like in a month or two. You should wait until the season begins and pick him up when it appears he’s getting close. Let someone else waste the pick and then have to pick up someone he won’t use. In my approach, you’ll do the opposite. You’ll drop someone you won’t use for someone who could help your team.
Drafts are starting to come up pretty quickly including mine and I got the draft order. I’m picking 9th out of 12 which isn’t my favorite but it’s not the worst in the world. The place that I hate to draft is between 4-8 in a 12 team league. I hate drafting in these positions because it handicaps your picks to some degree, you never know exactly what you’re going to have there for you picking. Because of this you have to focus on an extra number of players and entertain an extra number of options. To help you avoid the confusion, I’ve provided a couple of rules below on how to plan while drafting in these middle positions.
For those of you who are expecting a speedy recovery from Glaus, it appears as though you’re going to have to wait a little longer. The Cardinals have shut him down from all baseball activities because he’s reached a plateau in his rehabilitation. This isn’t uncommon with recovery from surgeries and Glaus has been through several of them.
Originally, Glaus was hoping to come back in late April but that’s now unlikely because of discomfort near the right shoulder. If the discomfort disappears in a few days to a week it shouldn’t effect his progression too much. If however, if the discomfort lasts for longer it will definitely push him back into May or even early June.
Glaus’s surgery was a debridement of a tendon in the upper chest, most likely one of the pectoralis muscles. This muscle is an important horizontal abductor (brings the arm across the chest) and also internally rotates the arm(the actual act of throwing). Just as important though is aiding in keeping the scapula moving in concert with the humerus during movement of the arm.
Well we finally have an explanation of what is causing Joe Mauer’s pain and discomfort. Through two different MDs and specialists, he was diagnosed with SI joint inflammation but there are still doubts (including myself and Mauer) that he’ll be ready for Opening Day.
Catching isn’t necessarily an issue for him but running is what is causing him the most pain and irritation. He’s going to be treated with a stronger anti-inflammatory which hopefully will knock it down.
If you feel the two small bones in your low back towards your hips, that’s there the SI joints are. When you hear someone “threw out their back” this is typically where it occurs. It is an extremely painful condition initially and can really limit your activity when it is flared up. SI joints are stressed with hip/low back rotation and running.
There’s a new injury summary over at Fighting Chance Fantasy. I hope you check it out.
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