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
The next several days I will be doing injury updates every other day unless major injurynews arises. It’s playoff time for our college and since every single one of our spring sports made the playoffs (including the majority of them hosting) it’s a little busy through the weekend. Next week should wind down and I can get back into my normal routine.
I apologize and I will get it back ASAP.
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On to the injuries…
Ryan Doumit will miss the next 8-10 weeks as he’s scheduled for sugery on his slightly displaced fracture in his wrist. The scaphoid bone has an increased chance of not healing because of how the blood supply flows through the bone, so any displacement is pretty much an automatic surgery. They’ll likely place a pin or two in there to make sure everything realigns properly. Fantasy Impact: He’s out most likely until the start of July putting Jason Jaramillo in the starting lineup. His fantasy value though is minimal so it appears that any chance of production at the catcher position in Pittsburgh will have to wait until July at the earliest.
Joey Devine ended up having Tommy John surgery after all. After going through all sorts of tests and examinations, he finally ended up getting the surgery that all of us expected. Fantasy Impact: By now everyone has picked up his backups so it really doesn’t matter that much at this point. He’ll be done for the season and is expected to start the season next year.
Updating a previous injury note, Xavier Nady won’t require surgery immediately after all. He has suffered a partial ligament tear so it could complete the tear at any point but at this point he’s expected to only miss 4-6 weeks. Fantasy Impact:At this point, I still don’t trust anything in his arm. Being a position player, it does lessen the likelihood of complete tear but that “decreased risk” was already in play when he re-injured it in the first place. I would continue to steer clear of this, but it could take away some ABs from Damon and others.
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DL, injury analysis, news
Adam Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Brandon Webb, Jayson Nix, Jed Lowrie, Joey Devine, Melvin Mora, Phil Dumatrait, Rich Hill, Ryan Doumit, Trevor Hoffman, Willie Harris, Wrist, Xavier Nady
In terms of impact injuries there’s really not that much out there that will make or break someone’s fantasy season. In fact there’s not much that will even really effect fantasy seasons unless you are in AL or NL only leagues.
Adam Jones was removed Sunday for right hamstring soreness. Garrett Anderson left with left quad tightness. B.J. Upton left with right quad tightness. Evan Longoria returned to the lineup Sunday at DH after tweaking his foot on Saturday. Roger Bernadina went on the DL with a fractured right ankle. Jose Guillen appears to be nearing a return and is eligible to come off the DL on the 25th. David Dellucci will begin a rehab assignment soon for his calf injury.
Really the only news of value is regarding Guerrero, Hoffman, and McCann. Vlad tore his pectoral muscle and will be out at least a month. This is definitely a blow to all of the fantasy owners who drafted him and the Angels themselves. This will give more time to Juan Rivera, Mike Napoli, and Gary Matthews Jr. Trevor Hoffman is going on a rehab assignment soon and could be back within 10 days. He’ll slot right into the closer’s role and therefore could be a nice pickup if he happens to be a FA in your league. Brian McCann though has blurriness in the left eye. Back in ‘97 he had LASIK in both eyes and didn’t have any problems last year. It’s reported he doesn’t have perfect vision in his left eye anymore and may require another LASIK surgery. They’re going to try drops and antibiotic ointments first, but if he does require another one he could end up on the DL. We should know after a few days of treatment whether or not it’s helping. Read more…
DL, injury analysis, news
Adam Jones, B.J. Upton, Brian McCann, Corey Wade, David Dellucci, Dustin Moseley, Evan Longoria, garrett Anderson, Jose Guillen, Michael Barrett, Roger Bernadina, Trevor Hoffman, Vladimir Guerroero, Walter Silva
Lots of news and lots of transactions…
Christian Guzman was placed on the DL with a strained left hamstring. This is more about getting a short term replacement for the next week than an indication of how severe the strain it is. It’s a minor strain by all accounts so I believe he’ll be off in the minimum. Fantasy Impact: Little to none. Yes you’ll miss out on 2 weeks, but that should really be it. I would expect he’d end up playing in around 140 games overall and his stats shouldn’t suffer all too much.
Updating a post yesterday, Doug Mientkiewicz will undergo surgery for his shoulder and be out 3 months. Fantasy Impact: Even less than before. He was a pinch hitter and defensive replacement at best so he didn’t have much value to start with. If you happen to have him, drop him immediately.
Jesse Litsch will likely be out until late May according to the GM yesterday. His forearm strain must be fairly serious. Fantasy Impact: It’s a shame that all of the Jays starters save Doc Halladay are injured. I think realistically he’s not himself until the first week of June or so. I would consider dropping him and picking up a hot hand. If he becomes the hot hand, you could always pick him up again.
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DL, injury analysis, news
Christian Guzman, Doug Mientkiewicz, Gary Matthews Jr., Jed Lowrie, Jesse Litsch, Mike Napoli, Vladimir Guerrero
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